Wireless communication apparatus and method

ABSTRACT

There is provided an information processing apparatus including an acquiring unit that acquires communication quality of wireless communication at a location where a wireless communication apparatus exists, and a control unit that controls ON/OFF of another data communication function other than a data communication function to which a high priority is set, among data communication functions included by the wireless communication apparatus, based on the acquired communication quality.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/045,865, filed Oct. 4, 2013, which claimspriority from prior Japanese Priority Patent Application JP 2012-225583filed in the Japan Patent Office on Oct. 11, 2012, the entire content ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to an information processing apparatusand more particularly, to an information processing apparatus, acommunication system, and an information processing method that performwireless communication and a program for causing a computer to executethe information processing method.

In the related art, a wireless communication apparatus that is connectedto a network such as a public wireless network has spread widely. Amobile phone service of a 3G (3rd Generation) method (in Japan, referredto as the third-generation mobile phone service) has started in 2002. Asthe mobile phone service, initially, applications using packets having asmall capacity size such as a sound and an e-mail are mainly used.However, use aspects of users change to downloading of packets having arelatively large capacity size such as download of a music file orviewing of a moving image, by introducing HSDPA (High Speed DownlinkPacket Access) or the like.

For example, the case in which users are concentrated in a specific areaand download packets having a large capacity size is assumed. In thiscase, because traffic is locally concentrated, a sufficient rate may notbe obtained.

Therefore, a communication regulation system in which communicationregulation is performed by designating an executable communicationmethod according to a place where a mobile terminal is located has beensuggested (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No.2006-287445).

SUMMARY

In the related art, a core network side determines a usablecommunication method with respect to a connection request from awireless communication apparatus and performs communication regulationon the basis of the usable communication method.

However, in a place where the users are concentrated locally andcongestion is generated in a specific base station, communicationquality may be greatly deteriorated. For this reason, in such a place,even though the communication method is determined with respect to eachwireless communication apparatus and the communication regulation isperformed, the users may not receive a service with expected quality.Therefore, in such a place, it becomes important to decrease radioresources with the concern to be wasted and efficiently use wirelesscommunication resources.

It is desirable to enable wireless communication resources to beefficiently used.

According to a first embodiment of the present technology, there isprovided an information processing apparatus, an information processingmethod and a program for causing a computer to execute the method, theinformation processing apparatus including an acquiring unit thatacquires communication quality of wireless communication at a locationwhere a wireless communication apparatus exists, and a control unit thatcontrols ON/OFF of another data communication function other than a datacommunication function to which a high priority is set, among datacommunication functions included by the wireless communicationapparatus, based on the acquired communication quality. Therefore,ON/OFF of the data communication functions other than the datacommunication function to which the high priority is set can becontrolled on the basis of the acquired communication quality.

Further, the data communication function to which the high priority isset may be a voice call function or a data communication functionregarding a voice call service to which the high priority is set, andwhen the acquired communication quality is low based on a thresholdvalue, the control unit performs control to turn off the other datacommunication functions in a state in which the data communicationfunction to which the high priority is set may be turned on. Therefore,when the acquired communication quality is bad on the basis of thethreshold value, the other data communication functions can be turnedoff in a state in which the data communication function to which thehigh priority is set is turned on.

Further, when the acquired communication quality is high based on athreshold value, the control unit may perform control to turn on theother data communication functions, and when the acquired communicationquality is low based on the threshold value, the control unit mayperform control to turn off the other data communication functions.Therefore, when the acquired communication quality is good on the basisof the threshold value, the other data communication functions areturned on and when the acquired communication quality is bad on thebasis of the threshold value, the other data communication functions canbe turned off.

Further, when a call using a voice call function is performed eventhough the acquired communication quality is low based on the thresholdvalue, the control unit may perform control to turn on the other datacommunication functions. Therefore, when the call using the voice callfunction is performed even though the acquired communication quality isbad on the basis of the threshold value, the other data communicationfunctions can be turned on.

Further, the control unit may control ON/OFF of the other datacommunication function, based on a display unit included in the wirelesscommunication apparatus and the acquired communication quality.Therefore, ON/OFF of the other data communication functions can becontrolled on the basis of the display unit included in the wirelesscommunication apparatus and the acquired communication quality.

Further, when the display unit is not in a display state even though theacquired communication quality is high based on a threshold value, thecontrol unit may perform control to turn off the other datacommunication function, and when the display unit is in the displaystate even though the acquired communication quality is low based on thethreshold value, the control unit may perform control to turn on theother data communication function. Therefore, when the display unit isnot in the display state even though the acquired communication qualityis good on the basis of the threshold value, the other datacommunication functions can be turned off and when the display unit isin the display state even though the acquired communication quality isbad on the basis of the threshold value, the other data communicationfunctions can be turned on.

Further, the information processing apparatus may further include amovement information acquiring unit that acquires movement informationregarding a movement of the wireless communication apparatus. Thecontrol unit may control ON/OFF of the other data communicationfunction, based on the acquired movement information and the acquiredcommunication quality. Therefore, ON/OFF of the other data communicationfunctions can be controlled on the basis of the acquired movementinformation and the acquired communication quality.

Further, when the acquired communication quality is high based on athreshold value or when the acquired communication quality is low basedon the threshold value and the acquired movement information satisfies apredetermined condition, the control unit may perform control to turn onthe other data communication function, and when the acquiredcommunication quality is low based on the threshold value and theacquired movement information does not satisfy the predeterminedcondition, the control unit may perform control to turn off the otherdata communication functions. Therefore, when the acquired communicationquality is good on the basis of the threshold value or the acquiredcommunication quality is bad on the basis of the threshold value and theacquired movement information satisfies the predetermined condition, theother data communication functions can be turned on and when theacquired communication quality is bad on the basis of the thresholdvalue and the acquired movement information does not satisfy thepredetermined condition, the other data communication functions can beturned off.

Further, the data communication functions that are included by thewireless communication apparatus may include a data communicationfunction regarding packet communication and a data communicationfunction regarding SMS communication, and the data communicationfunction to which the high priority is set may be the data communicationfunction regarding the SMS communication. Therefore, the datacommunication function to which the high priority is set can be set asthe data communication function regarding the SMS communication andON/OFF of the other data communication functions can be controlled.

Further, the data communication functions that are included by thewireless communication apparatus may include data communicationfunctions regarding a plurality of protocols, and the other datacommunication function may be a data communication function regarding aspecific protocol. Therefore, ON/OFF of the data communication functionsregarding the specific protocol can be controlled.

Further, a threshold value to turn off the data communication functionsregarding the specific protocol may be associated with the specificprotocol, and when the acquired communication quality is high based onthe threshold value associated with the specific protocol, the controlunit may perform control to turn on the other data communicationfunction, and when the acquired communication quality is low based onthe threshold value associated with the specific protocol, the controlunit may perform control to turn off the other data communicationfunction. Therefore, when the acquired communication quality is good onthe basis of the threshold value associated with the specific protocol,the other data communication functions can be turned on and when theacquired communication quality is bad on the basis of the thresholdvalue associated with the specific protocol, the other datacommunication functions can be turned off.

Further, the information processing apparatus may further include anapplication start detecting unit that detects a start of an applicationperforming data communication. The control unit may notify a user ofinformation showing that the other data communication function is turnedoff, at timing when the start of the application is detected. Therefore,the information showing that the other data communication functions areturned off can be notified to the user, at the timing when the start ofthe application is detected.

Further, information showing whether the data communication regardingthe application is automatically executed may be associated with theapplication performing the data communication, and in a case in whichthe start of the application performing the data communication isdetected, when the acquired communication quality is high based on athreshold value or when the acquired communication quality is low basedon the threshold value and information showing that the datacommunication is automatically executed is associated with theapplication, the control unit may perform control to turn on the otherdata communication function and when the acquired communication qualityis low based on the threshold value and information showing that thedata communication is not automatically executed may be associated withthe application, the control unit may perform control to turn off theother data communication functions. Therefore, in the case in which thestart of the application performing the data communication is detected,when the acquired communication quality is good on the basis of thethreshold value or the acquired communication quality is bad on thebasis of the threshold value and the information showing that the datacommunication is automatically executed is associated with theapplication, the other data communication functions can be turned on andwhen the acquired communication quality is bad on the basis of thethreshold value and the information showing that the data communicationis not automatically executed is associated with the application, theother data communication functions can be turned off.

Further, the information processing apparatus may further include astorage unit that stores, as statistical information, a communicationamount when data communication using the data communication functions isperformed. The control unit may control ON/OFF of the other datacommunication function, based on the statistical information and theacquired communication quality. Therefore, ON/OFF of the other datacommunication functions can be controlled on the basis of thestatistical information and the acquired communication quality.

Further, in the case in which execution of the data communication isinstructed, when the acquired communication quality is high based on thethreshold value or when the acquired communication quality is low basedon the threshold value and the statistical information regarding thedata communication satisfies a predetermined condition, the control unitmay perform control to turn on the other data communication functionsand when the acquired communication quality is low based on thethreshold value and the statistical information regarding the datacommunication does not satisfy the predetermined condition, the controlunit may perform control to turn off the other data communicationfunction. Therefore, in the case in which the execution of the datacommunication is instructed, when the acquired communication quality isgood on the basis of the threshold value or the acquired communicationquality is bad on the basis of the threshold value and the statisticalinformation regarding the data communication satisfies the predeterminedcondition, the other data communication functions can be turned on andwhen the acquired communication quality is bad on the basis of thethreshold value and the statistical information regarding the datacommunication does not satisfy the predetermined condition, the otherdata communication functions can be turned off.

Further, a protocol hierarchy of data communication regarding the datacommunication functions included by the wireless communication apparatusmay include at least a Control plane and a User plane, the other datacommunication function may be a data communication function regardingthe data communication of the protocol hierarchy other than the Controlplane, and the control unit may control ON/OFF of the data communicationof the protocol hierarchy other than the Control plane, based on controldata received through the Control plane and the acquired communicationquality. Therefore, ON/OFF of the data communication of the protocolhierarchy other than the Control plane can be controlled on the basis ofthe control data received through the Control plane and the acquiredcommunication quality.

Further, when the other data communication function is turned off, thecontrol unit may notify a user of information showing that the otherdata communication function is turned off. Therefore, when the otherdata communication functions are turned off, the information showingthat the other data communication functions are turned off can benotified to the user.

Further, according to a second embodiment of the present technology,there is provided a communication system, an information processingmethod of the same and a program for causing a computer to execute themethod, the communication system including an information processingapparatus that transmits a control signal, which shows that datacommunication using a User plane in data communication of a protocolhierarchy including at least a Control plane and the User plane isnecessary, to a wireless communication apparatus through the Controlplane, and a wireless communication apparatus that includes an acquiringunit to acquire communication quality of wireless communication at alocation where the wireless communication apparatus exists and a controlunit to control ON/OFF of the data communication of a protocol hierarchyother than the Control plane, based on control data received through theControl plane and the acquired communication quality. Therefore, theinformation processing apparatus can transmit the control signal showingthat the data communication using the User plane is necessary to thewireless communication apparatus through the Control plane and thewireless communication apparatus can acquire the communication qualityof the wireless communication at the current location and control ON/OFFof the data communication of the protocol hierarchy other than theControl plane, on the basis of the control data received through theControl plane and the acquired communication quality.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, wirelesscommunication resources can be efficiently used.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configurationexample of a wireless communication apparatus 100 according to a firstembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams illustrating an example of a display screenthat is displayed on a display unit 200 according to the firstembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configurationexample of a wireless communication apparatus 101 according to a secondembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 101 according to the second embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 100 according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configurationexample of a wireless communication apparatus 300 according to a fourthembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a restriction protocollist that is stored in a restriction protocol list storage unit 310according to the fourth embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 300 according to the fourth embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configurationexample of a wireless communication apparatus 350 according to a fifthembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 16A and 16B are diagrams illustrating an example of storagecontent of an application information storage unit 360 according to thefifth embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 17A and 17B are diagrams illustrating a display example of asetting screen (an application option setting screen 210) that isdisplayed on a display unit 200 according to the fifth embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIGS. 18A and 18B are diagrams illustrating an example of a displayscreen that is displayed on the display unit 200 according to the fifthembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 350 according to the fifth embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configurationexample of a wireless communication apparatus 400 according to a sixthembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 21A and 21B are diagrams illustrating an example of storagecontent of a communication amount storage unit 420 according to thesixth embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 400 according to the sixth embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 23 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configurationexample of a communication system 500 according to a seventh embodimentof the present disclosure;

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 510 according to the seventh embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 25 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configurationexample of a communication system 600 according to the seventhembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 26 is a sequence chart illustrating an example of communicationprocessing between apparatuses constituting the communication system 600according to the seventh embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 27 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 510 according to the seventh embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 28 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 510 according to the seventh embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT(S)

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will bedescribed in detail with reference to the appended drawings. Note that,in this specification and the appended drawings, structural elementsthat have substantially the same function and structure are denoted withthe same reference numerals, and repeated explanation of thesestructural elements is omitted.

The following description will be made in the order described below.

1. First Embodiment (Data Communication Function ON/OFF Control: Exampleof Controlling ON/OFF of Data Communication Function on the basis ofCommunication Quality, Display State, Call State, and Movement Distance)

2. Second Embodiment (Data Communication Function ON/OFF Control:Example of Controlling ON/OFF of Data Communication Function other thanSMS)

3. Third Embodiment (Data Communication Function ON/OFF Control: Exampleof Controlling ON/OFF of Data Communication Function to Realize DataCommunication with Low QoS (Quality of Service)

4. Fourth Embodiment (Data Communication Function ON/OFF Control:Example of Controlling ON/OFF of Data Communication FunctionCommunicated with Specific Protocol)

5. Fifth Embodiment (Data Communication Function ON/OFF Control: Exampleof Controlling ON/OFF of Data Communication Function at the time ofApplication Start or User Operation)

6. Sixth Embodiment (Data Communication Function ON/OFF Control: Exampleof Controlling ON/OFF of Data Communication Function on the basis ofPast Data Communication Amount)

7. Seventh Embodiment (Data Communication Function ON/OFF Control:Example of Controlling ON/OFF of Data Communication Function in U-plane)

1. First Embodiment

[Configuration Example of Wireless Communication Apparatus]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configurationexample of a wireless communication apparatus 100 according to a firstembodiment of the present disclosure.

The wireless communication apparatus 100 includes a wirelesscommunication unit 110, a data communication processing unit 120, avoice communication processing unit 130, a congestion degree detectingunit 141, a signal strength detecting unit 142, a signalstrength-to-noise ratio detecting unit 143, and a communication qualityacquiring unit 150. The wireless communication apparatus 100 furtherincludes a data communication control unit 160, a display control unit170, an operation receiving unit 180, a movement distance detecting unit190, and a display unit 200. The wireless communication apparatus 100is, for example, a portable information processing apparatus including awireless communication function (for example, a mobile phone or a smartphone including a call function and a data communication function). Thewireless communication apparatus 100 is an example of an informationprocessing apparatus and a wireless communication apparatus according toan embodiment of the present disclosure.

The wireless communication unit 110 exchanges each information (forexample, sound data or image data) with a base station (base station runby a carrier) providing a communication service and supplies receivedinformation to each unit. For example, the wireless communication unit110 performs wireless communication using a 3G network, on the basis ofcontract authentication information (for example, a USIM (UniversalSubscriber Identity Module)) stored in the wireless communicationapparatus 100.

The data communication processing unit 120 executes processing regardingdata communication such as packet communication, through the wirelesscommunication unit 110. ON/OFF of the data communication processing unit120 is controlled by the data communication control unit 160. That is,ON/OFF of a data communication function is controlled by the datacommunication control unit 160. Here, the data communication meanscommunication of various data other than voice communication. The voicecommunication can be defined as a “voice call service supporting anemergency call function” and a “voice call service in which QoS issecured” to be distinguished from a general IP (Internet Protocol)phone. The data communication function means a function of communicatingvarious data other than the voice communication.

For example, when the data communication function is turned on by thedata communication control unit 160 (the data communication processingunit 120 is turned on), the data communication is enabled in thewireless communication apparatus 100. Meanwhile, when the datacommunication function is turned off by the data communication controlunit 160 (the data communication processing unit 120 is turned off), thedata communication is disabled in the wireless communication apparatus100. The voice communication processing unit 130 executes processingregarding the voice communication such as a phone (for example, voicecall processing in a mobile phone or a smart phone), through thewireless communication unit 110. Here, the voice communication that isprovided by the voice communication processing unit 130 is voicecommunication that enables an emergency call. The voice communicationprocessing unit 130 outputs information regarding a call state (callstate information (information showing a call state or a non-callstate)) to the data communication control unit 160. The voicecommunication processing unit 130 is turned on at all times. That is,even in a state in which the data communication processing unit 120 isturned off by the data communication control unit 160, the voicecommunication processing unit 130 is turned on at all times.

The congestion degree detecting unit 141 detects a congestion degree ofa base station, on the basis of a reception signal included ininformation supplied from the wireless communication unit 110, andoutputs a detection result to the communication quality acquiring unit150. That is, the congestion degree of the base station is detected fromthe signal received by the wireless communication unit 110. Here, thecongestion degree of the base station can be defined as a ratio of radioresources actually allocated to the wireless communication apparatus, toall radio resources of the base station. The radio resources may be thenumber of codes, power allocated to the codes, or the number of bitstransmitted per frame, in the case of code division multiple access. Theradio resources may be the number of subcarriers, the number of resourceblocks, or the number of bits transmitted per frame, in the case oforthogonal frequency division multiple access.

For example, the case of a code division multiple access method that isrepresented by W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) isassumed. In this case, the congestion degree can be defined as a ratio(or a value proportional to the ratio) of the number of codes allocatedto a user, to the total number of codes of an HS-DSCH (High-SpeedDownlink Shared Channel). The congestion degree can be considered as aratio (or a value proportional to the ratio) of power of the HS-DSCHallocated to the user, to total power allocated to the HS-DSCH. As thecongestion degree, a value per frame or an average value over severalframes may be used.

When the congestion degree is detected at the side of the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100, the congestion degree may be calculatedusing various correlation detection results obtained by cell searchprocessing (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A)No. 2011-10267). In addition, Ec/No (Energy per Chip-to-Noise powerspectral density) may be used as the congestion degree of the basestation. In addition, Ec/lo (Energy per Chip-to-Interference powerspectral density) may be used as the congestion degree of the basestation. In addition, a value that is obtained by dividing the Ec/No orthe Ec/lo by a spreading factor of a pilot signal may be used as thecongestion degree of the base station.

The case of orthogonal frequency division multiple access that isrepresented by LTE (Long Term Evolution) is assumed. In this case, thecongestion degree can be defined as a ratio (or a value proportional tothe ratio) of the number of resource blocks allocated to the user, tothe total number of resource blocks per frame. When the congestiondegree is detected at the side of the wireless communication apparatus100, the congestion degree can be calculated using RSRQ (ReferenceSignal Received Quality). For example, if a minimum value of the RSRQ isdefined as a, the congestion degree kcong can be calculated by thefollowing expression 1.kcong=a/RSRQ  (1)

Here, the RSRQ is mapped by 34 ways of RSRQ_00 to RSRQ_33 at an intervalof 0.5 dB, as described in Table9.1.7-1 of 3GPP TS36.133. The RSRQ in astate in which the base station or the traffic is congested most isRSRQ_00. Therefore, the minimum value a of the RSRQ in the expression 1can be set to −19.5 dB. However, a is preferably handled withantilogarithm. As described in Table9.1.7-1 of 3GPP TS36.133, when thecongestion degree kcong is calculated using index values of RSRQ_00 toRSRQ_33, the expression 1 can be transformed into the followingexpression 2.Kcong=10^((RSRQ) ^(_) ^(00-RSRQ) ^(_) ^(XX))/(2×10)  (2)

Here, XX represents an index value of 00, 01, . . . , and 33. When theRSRQ is handled with a dimension of a voltage without handling the RSRQwith a dimension of power like the expression 2, the expression 1 may betransformed into the following expression 3.kcong=√(a/RSRQ)  (3)

Here, the RSRQ is defined by the following expression 4, using RSRP(Reference Signal Received Power) and RSSI (Received Signal StrengthIndicator).RSRQ=N(RSRI/RSSI)  (4)

Here, N represents the number of resource blocks in an RSSI measurementband.

The method of calculating the congestion degree kcong is not limited tothe methods described above and various modifications can be madewithout departing from the spirit of the present disclosure.

The signal strength detecting unit 142 detects the strength of thereception signal included in the information supplied from the wirelesscommunication unit 110 and outputs the detected strength of thereception signal to the signal strength-to-noise ratio detecting unit143 and the communication quality acquiring unit 150. For example, thesignal strength detecting unit 142 detects the strength of the receptionsignal (reception signal transmitted in the carrier frequency band fromthe base station) in a carrier frequency band (carrier band) used by theprovided communication service. The strength of the reception signal isgenerally used for antenna bar display (for example, antenna bar displayin an upper display region 201 illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B).

The signal strength-to-noise ratio detecting unit 143 detects a ratio ofthe strength of the signal output from the signal strength detectingunit 142 and a noise component (for example, noise power). For example,an SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) or an SIR (Signal to Interference powerRatio) is detected. For example, an SINR (Signal to Interference andNoise power Ratio) is detected. The signal strength-to-noise ratiodetecting unit 143 outputs a value of the detected ratio (signalstrength-to-noise ratio) to the communication quality acquiring unit150.

For example, the signal strength-to-noise ratio detecting unit 143 candetect noise components that are generated in a circuit (the signalstrength detecting unit 142) to detect the strength of the receptionsignal from the base station. The signal strength-to-noise ratiodetecting unit 143 can detect noise components in which thermal noise isamplified or interference components from adjacent base stations(adjacent cells) as the noise components. As such, the noise componentsinclude interference components received from peripheral base stationsas well as the thermal noise and internal noise generated in atransmission/reception circuit.

The communication quality acquiring unit 150 acquires communicationquality regarding a signal received by the wireless communication unit110 and outputs the acquired communication quality to the datacommunication control unit 160. For example, the communication qualityacquiring unit 150 acquires the congestion degree of the base stationdetected by the congestion degree detecting unit 141, the signalstrength detected by the signal strength detecting unit 142, and thesignal strength-to-noise ratio detected by the signal strength-to-noiseratio detecting unit 143 as the communication quality. That is, thecommunication quality acquiring unit 150 acquires the communicationquality of the wireless communication at a location where the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 exists. The communication quality acquiringunit 150 acquires a value calculated on the basis of at least one of thecongestion degree of the base station, the reception signal strength,and the reception signal strength-to-noise ratio or the congestiondegree of the base station, the reception signal strength, and thereception signal strength-to-noise ratio as the communication quality.The communication quality acquiring unit 150 is an example of anacquiring unit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The data communication control unit 160 performs ON/OFF control (ON/OFFcontrol of the data communication function) of the data communicationprocessing unit 120, on the basis of the communication quality acquiredby the communication quality acquiring unit 150. For example, the datacommunication control unit 160 performs control to turn off the datacommunication processing unit 120, when the wireless communicationapparatus 100 is in an environment where the communication quality isnot good, and performs control to turn on the data communicationprocessing unit 120, only when the wireless communication apparatus 100is in an environment where the communication quality is good.

For example, because it becomes very difficult to connect the wirelesscommunication apparatus to the congested base station, it is importantto prevent wasted radio resources from being generated. Here, the wastedradio resources are resources that become wasted in the case in whichdownloading is not completed due to slowness and the user gives up thedownloading on the way. Therefore, when the wireless communicationapparatus 100 is connected to the congested base station, the datacommunication control unit 160 turns off the data communicationprocessing unit 120 (turns off the data communication function). Thatis, control of the data communication function is performed using thecommunication quality having considered the congestion degree of thebase station detected by the congestion degree detecting unit 141.

In addition, even in an environment where the signal strength is weak,it is important to prevent the wasted radio resources from beinggenerated. Therefore, when the wireless communication apparatus 100exists in the environment where the signal strength is weak, the datacommunication control unit 160 turns off the data communicationprocessing unit 120 (turns off the data communication function). Thatis, control of the data communication function is performed using thecommunication quality having considered the signal strength detected bythe signal strength detecting unit 142.

In addition, not only the signal strength but also other interferencesources (for example, the strength and the weakness of interference fromperipheral cells) can be acquired. For this reason, the signalstrength-to-noise ratio detecting unit 143 can detect the deteriorationof the communication quality due to the low signal strength and thedeterioration of the communication quality due to the interferences fromother interference sources. Even in an environment where thecommunication quality is deteriorated due to the interferences fromother interference sources, it is important to prevent the wasted radioresources from being generated. Therefore, when the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 exists in the environment where thecommunication quality is deteriorated due to the interferences fromother interference sources, the data communication control unit 160turns off the data communication processing unit 120 (turns off the datacommunication function). That is, control of the data communicationfunction is performed using the communication quality having consideredthe signal strength-to-noise ratio detected by the signalstrength-to-noise radio detecting unit 143.

As such, ON/OFF of the data communication function can be controlledusing the deteriorations of the communication qualities due to thedifferent factors (the deterioration of the communication quality due tothe congestion degree of the base station, the deterioration of thecommunication quality due to the signal strength, and the deteriorationof the communication quality due to the interferences from otherinterference sources). Thereby, generation of the wasted radio resourcescan be decreased and the capacity can be efficiently improved. Thewasted power consumption that is generated by the data communicationprocessing unit 120 can be decreased.

The display control unit 170 displays individual display screens (forexample, display screens illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B) on the displayunit 200, on the basis of the control of the data communication controlunit 160. In addition, the display control unit 170 outputs informationregarding a display state (display state information (informationshowing a turned-on state or a turned-off state)) in the display unit200 to the data communication control unit 160.

The operation receiving unit 180 receives an operation input from theuser and outputs a control signal according to the received operationinput to the data communication control unit 160. The operationreceiving unit 180 and the display unit 200 may be integrated and may beconfigured by a touch panel. As the touch panel, a touch panel of anelectrostatic type (capacitance type), a pressure-sensitive type (aresistance film pressure-sensitive type), or an optical type can beused.

The display unit 200 displays each display screen, on the basis of thecontrol of the display control unit 170. As the display unit 200, adisplay panel such as an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) panel or anLCD (Liquid Crystal Display) can be used. For example, outputs ofvarious applications that are mounted to the wireless communicationapparatus 100 are displayed on the display unit 200. In addition,outputs of various services using the Internet through a web browser aredisplayed on the display unit 200.

In addition, according to the ON/OFF control of the data communicationprocessing unit 120 by the data communication control unit 160, adisplay screen to notify the user of the ON/OFF control is displayed onthe display unit 200. A display example is illustrated in FIGS. 2A, 2B,and 18.

When the user does not use the wireless communication apparatus 100, thedisplay control unit 170 performs control to turn off a display function(or a backlight) of the display unit 200 with a fixed or variable cycleto decrease power consumed by the display unit 200. The display controlunit 170 performs control to turn off the display function (or thebacklight) of the display unit 200 after a preset time passes. Forexample, when the display unit 200 is configured using a touch panel,the display control unit 170 monitors a touch operation with respect tothe touch panel and acquires a finally touched time. The display controlunit 170 may turn off the display function (or the backlight) of thedisplay unit 200 with the fixed or variable cycle from the acquiredtime.

The data communication control unit 160 may perform ON/OFF control ofthe data communication processing unit 120, on the basis of thecommunication quality acquired by the communication quality acquiringunit 150 and the information of the control of the display unit 200 bythe display control unit 170.

For example, the data communication control unit 160 can perform controlto turn off the data communication function, when the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 is in an environment where the communicationquality is not good, and can perform control to turn on the datacommunication function, only when the wireless communication apparatus100 is an environment where the communication quality is good. In thiscase, the data communication control unit 160 may perform control toturn off the data communication function, under a condition where theuser is not using the wireless communication apparatus 100 and thedisplay unit 200 is turned off. The data communication control unit 160may perform control to turn on the data communication function, under acondition where the user is using the wireless communication apparatus100 and the display unit 200 is turned on. This control example will bedescribed in detail with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

As such, ON/OFF control of the data communication function can beperformed by considering the communication quality and the display stateof the display unit 200. Thereby, generation of the wasted radioresources can be decreased and the capacity can be efficiently improved.The wasted power consumption that is generated by the data communicationprocessing unit 120 can be decreased.

The movement distance detecting unit 190 detects a movement distance ofthe wireless communication apparatus 100 (movement distance of the userpossessing the wireless communication apparatus 100) and outputs adetection result to the data communication control unit 160. Forexample, the movement distance detecting unit 190 can calculate amovement distance per unit time, using position information (forexample, the latitude and the longitude) detected by a GPS (GlobalPositioning System) receiver. Also, the movement distance detecting unit190 may calculate the movement distance using acceleration informationdetected by an acceleration sensor. The movement distance detecting unit190 is an example of a movement information acquiring unit according toan embodiment of the present disclosure.

The data communication control unit 160 may perform ON/OFF control ofthe data communication processing unit 120, on the basis of thecommunication quality acquired by the communication quality acquiringunit 150 and the movement distance detected by the movement distancedetecting unit 190. For example, when the user possessing the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 moves by an electric train and the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 temporarily passes through an area where thecommunication quality is not good, the data communication control unit160 does not turn off the data communication processing unit 120.Meanwhile, when a station where the electric train is parked is in anarea where the communication quality is not good, the electric trainstops in the area where the communication quality is not good, for arelatively long time. For this reason, the data communication controlunit 160 can turn off the data communication processing unit 120. Thiscontrol example will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 8.

[Notification Example of Information Showing that Data CommunicationFunction is Turned Off]

FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams illustrating an example of a display screenthat is displayed on the display unit 200 according to the firstembodiment of the present disclosure. In the upper display region 201 oneach display screen to be described below, an antenna bar, a time, and aremaining battery amount icon are illustrated. The other display contentis partially omitted and is simply illustrated.

FIG. 2A illustrates a display example of the case in which informationshowing that the data communication function is turned off is displayedby text information. When the data communication function is turned off,as illustrated in a of FIGS. 2A and 2B, text information “becausecommunication quality is bad, a data communication function is turnedoff” is displayed in a partial region (message display region 202) ofthe display screen. The display screen may be displayed continuouslywhile the data communication function is turned off or may be displayedonly during a constant period (for example, 3 to 5 minutes) after thedata communication function is turned off. The display screen may bedisplayed under a condition where the display unit 200 enters a displaystate when the data communication function is turned off. In a state inwhich the display unit 200 does not enter the display state when thedata communication function is turned off (that is, a turned-off state),the display screen may be displayed when the display unit 200 enters thedisplay state subsequently. A control example regarding the display isillustrated in FIG. 6.

As such, the information showing that the data communication function isturned off is displayed on the display unit 200, so that the user caneasily know that the data communication function of the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 is turned off.

FIG. 2B illustrates a display example of the case in which theinformation showing that the data communication function is turned offis displayed by text information and image information. Here, it isassumed that an application (for example, a browser) in which the datacommunication is necessary starts in a state in which the datacommunication function is turned off. In this case, because there is nodata access, a display screen (error notification screen) to notifyerror is normally displayed. At this time, instead of the errornotification screen, a display screen (for example, a display screen tocalm the user psychologically) illustrated in FIG. 2B may be displayed.For example, a penguin to calm the user psychologically can be arrangedon the upper side of a message display region 203.

These display screens are exemplary and various modifications can bemade without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure.

As such, the information showing that the data communication function isturned off is displayed on the display unit 200, so that the user caneasily know that the data communication function is turned off.

[Operation Example of Wireless Communication Apparatus]

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof the data communication control processing of the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

First, a power supply of the wireless communication apparatus 100 isturned on (step S901). Next, the wireless communication unit 110receives a signal from the base station (step S902). Next, communicationquality is detected from the received signal (step S903). That is, thecongestion degree detecting unit 141 detects a congestion degree of thebase station, the signal strength detecting unit 142 detects the signalstrength, and the signal strength-to-nose ratio detecting unit 143detects a signal strength-to-noise ratio. The communication qualityacquiring unit 150 acquires these values and supplies the values to thedata communication control unit 160. Step S903 is an example of anacquiring sequence according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Next, the data communication control unit 160 compares the communicationquality detected from the received signal with a threshold value anddetermines whether the detected communication quality is less than thethreshold value (step S904). That is, it is determined whether thecommunication quality is bad on the basis of the threshold value. Here,as the communication quality becoming a comparison target, only one ofthe individual communication qualities (the congestion degree of thebase station, the signal strength, and the signal strength-to-noiseratio) may be used. As the communication quality becoming the comparisontarget, a value calculated on the basis of the values of the individualcommunication qualities (for example, a total value of values obtainedby multiplying the individual values with a constant number) may beused. The communication quality becoming the comparison target may beset by the user by a manual operation or may be set by a carrier. Anexample of the case in which the individual communication qualities (thecongestion degree of the base station, the signal strength, and thesignal strength-to-noise ratio) are used as the communication qualitybecoming the comparison target is illustrated in FIG. 4.

When the communication quality detected from the received signal is notless than the threshold value (step S904), the data communicationcontrol unit 160 determines whether the data communication processingunit 120 is turned off (the data communication function is turned off)(step S905). When the data communication function is not turned off(that is, when the data communication function is turned on) (stepS905), the processing proceeds to step S909. Meanwhile, when the datacommunication function is turned off (step S905), the data communicationcontrol unit 160 performs control to turn on the data communicationfunction (step S906).

Next, it is determined whether the power supply of the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 is turned off (step S909). When the powersupply of the wireless communication apparatus 100 is turned off, theoperation of the data communication control processing ends. Meanwhile,when the power supply of the wireless communication apparatus 100 is notturned off (step S909), the processing returns to step S902.

When the communication quality detected from the received signal is lessthan the threshold value (step S904), the data communication controlunit 160 determines whether the data communication function is turned on(step S907). When the data communication function is not turned on (stepS907), the processing proceeds to step S909. Meanwhile, when the datacommunication function is turned on (step S907), the data communicationcontrol unit 160 performs control to turn off the data communicationfunction (step S908). Steps S904 to S908 are an example of a controlsequence according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Each processing of steps S902 to S908 is executed continuously with thefixed or variable cycle. An execution cycle of each processing may bevaried with respect to the case in which the data communication functionis turned on and the case in which the data communication function isturned off. The execution cycle of each processing may be changed by auser operation.

Here, the threshold value that is used for comparison (step S904) withthe communication quality detected from the received signal will bedescribed. The threshold value may be a fixed value or a variable value.

For example, with respect to a time when the wireless communicationapparatus 100 stays in the spot where the communication quality isdeteriorated, a time in the case in which the wireless communicationapparatus 100 moves is shorter than a time in the case in which thewireless communication apparatus 100 stops. For this reason, loadapplied to the base station in the case in which the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 moves is smaller than the load applied tothe base station in the case in which the wireless communicationapparatus 100 stops. Therefore, the threshold value can be set such thatthe threshold value when the wireless communication apparatus 100 movesbecomes smaller than the threshold value when the wireless communicationapparatus 100 stops (the frequency of turning off the data communicationfunction decreases). Thereby, control can be performed such that thedata communication function is not turned off as much as possible.

The threshold value may be varied stepwise according to a movement speedof the wireless communication apparatus 100. For example, the thresholdvalue when the wireless communication apparatus 100 moves may be changedstepwise according to the movement speed, such that the threshold valueincreases when the movement speed of the wireless communicationapparatus 100 is slow and decreases when the movement speed of thewireless communication apparatus 100 is fast.

The threshold value may be varied over time. For example, during aperiod of time such as a morning commute period of time or an eveningcommute period of time during which communication traffic is likely tobe concentrated, setting can be performed such that the threshold valueincreases (the frequency of turning off the data communication functionincreases). Meanwhile, during a midnight period of time (for example,1:00 to 5:00), setting can be performed such that the threshold valuedecreases (the frequency of turning off the data communication functiondecreases).

The threshold value may be varied according to a place. For example,there are places in areas such as Shinjuku and Shibuya which people areconcentrated in, regardless of the period of time. When the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 exists in these places, setting can beperformed such that the threshold value increases (the frequency ofturning off the data communication function increases).

If setting is performed such that the threshold value increases (thefrequency of turning off the data communication function increases), theload applied to the base station decreases. Therefore, a communicationunit price of the wireless communication apparatus 100 may be variedaccording to the threshold value. For example, the communication unitprice can be cheaply set with respect to a user who sets the largethreshold value and can be expensively set with respect to a user whosets the small threshold value. The setting may become valid under acondition where the user and the carrier renew a contract monthly.

The threshold value may be set according to a contract plan of the userof the wireless communication apparatus 100. For example, with respectto a user who contracts a cheap cost plan, setting is performed suchthat the threshold value increases (the frequency of turning off thedata communication function increases), because the user should follow ause method not applying the load to the base station. Meanwhile, withrespect to a user who contracts an expensive cost plan, setting isperformed such that the threshold value decreases (the frequency ofturning off the data communication function decreases).

The threshold value may be set according to the remaining chargingamount of the wireless communication apparatus 100. In general,communication performed in an environment where the communicationquality is bad is more likely to waste consumption power. For thisreason, when the remaining charging amount of the wireless communicationapparatus 100 decreases, setting can be performed such that thethreshold value increases (the frequency of turning off the datacommunication function increases), not to waste the power.

Similarly, each threshold value to be described below may be set to afixed value or a variable value. The threshold value setting method(threshold value setting method in the case in which the threshold valueis varied) described above is exemplary and various modifications can bemade without departing from the sprit of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Because FIG. 4 is a modification example of FIG. 3, portionscommon to the case of FIG. 3 are denoted with the same referencenumerals and explanation thereof is omitted.

The data communication control unit 160 compares the signal strengthdetected from the received signal with a threshold value and determineswhether the detected signal strength is less than the threshold value(step S911). That is, it is determined whether the signal strength isbad on the basis of the threshold value. Here, when the threshold valuewith respect to the signal strength is set to a fixed value, the signalstrength can be set to −95 dBm.

When the signal strength is not less than the threshold value (stepS911), the data communication control unit 160 compares the signalstrength-to-noise ratio detected from the received signal with athreshold value and determines whether the detected signalstrength-to-noise ratio is less than the threshold value (step S912).That is, it is determined whether the signal strength-to-noise ratio isbad on the basis of the threshold value. Here, when the threshold valuewith respect to the signal strength-to-noise ratio (for example, theSINR) is set to a fixed value, the threshold value can be set to 0 dB.

When the signal strength-to-noise ratio is not less than the thresholdvalue (step S912), the data communication control unit 160 compares thecongestion degree detected from the received signal with the thresholdvalue and determines whether the detected congestion degree is equal toor more than the threshold value (step S913). That is, it is determinedwhether the congestion degree is bad on the basis of the thresholdvalue. Here, when the threshold value with respect to the congestiondegree (for example, 0 to 1) is set to a fixed value, the thresholdvalue can be set to 0.75.

When each communication quality is not bad on the basis of the thresholdvalue (steps S911 to S913), the processing proceeds to step S905. Whenany one of the communication qualities is bad on the basis of thethreshold value (steps S911 to S913), the processing proceeds to stepS907.

As such, the data communication control unit 160 controls ON/OFF of thedata communication functions (data communication functions other thanthe data communication function to which the high priority is set, amongthe data communication functions included in the wireless communicationapparatus 100), on the basis of the acquired communication quality. Forexample, the data communication control unit 160 can control ON/OFF ofthe data communication functions other than the data communicationfunction to which the priority higher than a reference value is set.Specifically, the data communication control unit 160 performs controlto turn on the data communication function, when the acquiredcommunication quality is good on the basis of the threshold value, andperforms control to turn off the data communication function, when theacquired communication quality is bad on the basis of the thresholdvalue. The data communication function to which the high priority is setcan be set as a voice call function.

As such, in the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the datacommunication in an environment where the communication quality is badis suppressed, so that the radio resources becoming wasted by stoppingthe communication service on the way can be decreased. Thereby, thecapacity of each base station can be improved. When the user concludes acontract for a volume charging system, the cost burden on the user canbe decreased.

The data communication with respect to the congested base station issuppressed, so that the radio resources becoming wasted by stopping thecommunication service on the way can be decreased. Thereby, the capacityof the congested base station can be improved.

The radio resources that become wasted by stopping the communicationservice on the way, because of the deteriorations of the communicationqualities occurring due to different factors like the deterioration ofthe communication quality due to the decrease in the reception signalstrength and the deterioration of the communication quality due to thecongestion of the base station, can be decreased. Thereby, the capacityof each base station can be improved.

[Example of Case in which ON/OFF of Data Communication Function isControlled on the Basis of Display State of Display Unit]

The example of the case in which ON/OFF of the data communicationfunction is controlled on the basis of the communication quality hasbeen described. Here, it is assumed that the portable wirelesscommunication apparatus is often used by the user, when the display unitof the portable wireless communication apparatus enters a display state.Therefore, in this case, it is preferable not to turn off the datacommunication function even in an environment where the communicationquality is relatively bad. FIG. 5 illustrates an example of the case inwhich ON/OFF of the data communication function is controlled on thebasis of the display state of the display unit.

[Operation Example of Wireless Communication Apparatus]

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Because FIG. 5 is a modification of FIG. 3, portions commonto the case of FIG. 3 are denoted with the same reference numerals andexplanation thereof is omitted.

When the communication quality detected from the received signal is notless than the threshold value (step S904), the data communicationcontrol unit 160 determines whether the display unit 200 is in a displaystate, on the basis of the display state information from the displaycontrol unit 170 (step S915). That is, it is determined whether thedisplay unit 200 is turned on or turned off.

When the display unit 200 is in the display state (when the display unit200 is turned on) (step S915), the processing proceeds to step S905.When the display unit 200 is not in the display state (when the displayunit 200 is turned off) (step S915), the processing proceeds to stepS907. That is, even in an environment where the communication quality isrelatively good (step S904), when the display unit 200 is turned off(step S915), control to turn off the data communication function isperformed (steps S907 and S908).

When the communication quality detected from the received signal is lessthan the threshold value (step S904), the data communication controlunit 160 determines whether the display unit 200 is in the displaystate, on the basis of the display state information from the displaycontrol unit 170 (step S916).

When the display unit 200 is in the display state (step S916), theprocessing proceeds to step S905. When the display unit 200 is not inthe display state (step S916), the processing proceeds to step S907.That is, even in an environment where the communication quality isrelatively bad (step S904), when the display unit 200 is turned on (stepS916), control to turn on the data communication function is performed(steps S905 and S906).

As such, the data communication control unit 160 can control ON/OFF ofthe data communication function, on the basis of the display unit 200included in the wireless communication apparatus 100 and the acquiredcommunication quality. Specifically, when the display unit 200 is not inthe display state even in the case in which the acquired communicationquality is good on the basis of the threshold value, the datacommunication control unit 160 turns off the data communicationfunction. Meanwhile, when the display unit 200 is in the display stateeven in the case in which the acquired communication quality is bad onthe basis of the threshold value, the data communication control unit160 turns on the data communication function.

As such, in a state in which the display unit 200 is turned off or thebacklight of the display unit 200 is turned off, which is considered asthe same situation as a period during which the user does not use thedisplay unit 200, the data communication can be suppressed. Thereby,generation of communication that is unnecessary for the user can besuppressed.

In this example, ON/OFF of the data communication function is controlledon the basis of whether the display unit 200 is in the display state(the display unit 200 is turned on or turned off). However, instead ofdetermining whether the display unit 200 is in the display state (stepsS915 and S916), it is determined whether the user operates the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100, so that ON/OFF of the data communicationfunction may be controlled on the basis of a determination result.

For example, even in an environment where the communication quality isrelatively good (step S904), when the user does not operate the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 (step S915), control to turn off the datacommunication function is performed (steps S907 and S908). Meanwhile,even in an environment where the communication quality is relatively bad(step S904), when the user operates the wireless communication apparatus100 (step S916), control to turn on the data communication function isperformed (steps S905 and S906).

[Example of Case in which Display Screen to Notify OFF of DataCommunication Function is Displayed Only when Display Unit is in DisplayState]

In FIGS. 2A and 2B, the display example of the display screen to notifyOFF of the data communication function is illustrated. As describedabove, a display screen to notify OFF of the data communication functionmay be displayed only when the display unit is in the display state.Therefore, FIG. 6 illustrates an example of the case in which thedisplay screen to notify OFF of the data communication function isdisplayed only when the display unit is in the display state.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof the data communication control processing of the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure. Because FIG. 6 is a modification of FIGS. 3 and 5,portions common to the cases of FIGS. 3 and 5 are denoted with the samereference numerals and explanation thereof is omitted.

After the data communication function is turned on (step S906), the datacommunication control unit 160 determines whether the display unit 200is in the display state, on the basis of the display state informationfrom the display control unit 170 (step S915).

When the display unit 200 is in the display state (step S915), theprocessing proceeds to step S909. When the display unit 200 is not inthe display state (step S915), the processing proceeds to step S908.That is, an environment is an environment where the communicationquality is relatively good. For this reason, even in the case in whichthe data communication function is turned on (step S906), when thedisplay unit 200 is turned off (step S915), control to turn off the datacommunication function is performed (step S908).

After the data communication function is turned off (step S908), thedata communication control unit 160 determines whether the display unit200 is in the display state, on the basis of the display stateinformation from the display control unit 170 (step S916).

When the display unit 200 is in the display state (step S916), thedisplay control unit 170 displays information showing that the datacommunication function is turned off on the display unit 200, on thebasis of an instruction from the data communication control unit 160(step S917). For example, the display screens that are illustrated inFIGS. 2A and 2B are displayed. Meanwhile, when the display unit 200 isnot in the display state (step S916), the processing proceeds to stepS909. That is, in the case in which the data communication function isturned off (step S908), only when the display unit 200 is turned on(step S916), the display of the information showing that the datacommunication function is turned off is performed (step S917). When thedisplay unit 200 is turned off (step S916), the display of theinformation showing that the data communication function is turned offis not performed.

As such, when the data communication function is turned off, the datacommunication control unit 160 can notify the user of the informationshowing that the data communication function is turned off.

[Example of Case in which ON/OFF of Data Communication Function isControlled on the Basis of Call State]

The example of the case in which ON/OFF of the data communicationfunction is controlled on the basis of the communication quality and thedisplay state has been described. Here, it is assumed that the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 is often used by the user during a call orimmediately after the call, when the call is performed using thewireless communication apparatus 100. Therefore, in this case, it ispreferable not to turn off the data communication function even in anenvironment where the communication quality is relatively bad.Therefore, FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the case in which ON/OFF ofthe data communication function is controlled on the basis of a callstate.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof the data communication control processing of the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure. Because FIG. 7 is a modification of FIG. 3, portionscommon to the case of FIG. 3 are denoted with the same referencenumerals and explanation thereof is omitted.

When the communication quality detected from the received signal is lessthan the threshold value (step S904), the data communication controlunit 160 determines whether a current state is the call state, on thebasis of call state information from the voice communication processingunit 130 (step S918). When the current state is the call state (stepS918), the processing proceeds to step S905. Meanwhile, when the currentstate is not the call state (step S918), the processing proceeds to stepS907.

As such, even in the case in which the acquired communication quality isbad on the basis of the threshold value, when the call using the voicecall function is performed, the data communication control unit 160 mayperform control to turn on the data communication function.

In this example, ON/OFF of the data communication function is controlledon the basis of a determination result on whether the current state isthe call state. However, a determination result on whether the currentstate is a use state of a call service using best-effort packetcommunication, which is distinguished from voice communication providedby the voice communication processing unit 130 and enabling an emergencycall, may be used. The call service is generally called an IP callservice. An example using the determination result on whether thecurrent state is the use state of the call service is described in athird embodiment of the present disclosure.

[Example of Case in which ON/OFF of Data Communication Function isControlled on the Basis of Movement Distance]

The example of the case in which ON/OFF of the data communicationfunction is controlled on the basis of the communication quality, thedisplay state, and the call state has been described. Here, it isassumed that the communication quality is often changed by a movement ofthe wireless communication apparatus 100, when the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 moves, even in the case in which thewireless communication apparatus 100 exists in a place where thecommunication quality is bad. Therefore, it is preferable not to turnoff the data communication function even in an environment where thecommunication quality is relatively bad, when the wireless communicationapparatus 100 moves. FIG. 8 illustrates an example of the case in whichON/OFF of the data communication function is controlled on the basis ofthe movement distance.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof the data communication control processing of the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of thepresent disclosure. Because FIG. 8 is a modification of FIG. 3, portionscommon to the case of FIG. 3 are denoted with the same referencenumerals and explanation thereof is omitted.

When the data communication function is turned on (step S907), themovement distance detecting unit 190 detects the movement distance ofthe wireless communication apparatus 100 (step S919). For example, themovement distance of the wireless communication apparatus 100 per unittime is calculated.

Next, the data communication control unit 160 determines whether themovement distance (for example, the movement distance per unit time) ofthe wireless communication apparatus 100 is equal to or more than thethreshold value (step S920). When the movement distance of the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 is equal to or more than the threshold value(step S920), the processing proceeds to step S909. Meanwhile, when themovement distance of the wireless communication apparatus 100 is lessthan the threshold value (step S920), the processing proceeds to stepS908. For example, when a movement mechanism of the user is “walking”,it is estimated that the movement distance per minute is less than 100m. Therefore, 100 m can be used as the threshold value.

As such, when the movement distance (for example, the movement distanceper minute) of the wireless communication apparatus 100 is equal to ormore than the threshold value (for example, 100 m), it is assumed thatthe user possessing the wireless communication apparatus 100 moves by amovement mechanism other than the walking. For this reason, it isassumed that the wireless communication apparatus 100 moves to a placewhere the communication quality is good in a short time, when thewireless communication apparatus 100 exist in a place where thecommunication quality is relatively bad. Therefore, in the case in whichthe movement distance of the wireless communication apparatus 100 isequal to or more than the threshold value, the data communicationfunction is not turned off.

Meanwhile, it is assumed that the user possessing the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 exists in almost the same place, when themovement distance of the wireless communication apparatus 100 is lessthan the threshold value. For this reason, it is assumed that thewireless communication apparatus 100 is less likely to move to a placewhere the communication quality is good in a short time, when thewireless communication apparatus 100 exists in a place where thecommunication quality is relatively bad. Therefore, in the case in whichthe movement distance of the wireless communication apparatus 100 isless than the threshold value, the data communication function is turnedon.

As such, the data communication control unit 160 can control ON/OFF ofthe data communication function, on the basis of the movement distance(movement information) of the wireless communication apparatus 100 andthe acquired communication quality. Specifically, when the acquiredcommunication quality is good on the basis of the threshold value or theacquired communication quality is bad on the basis of the thresholdvalue and the movement distance of the wireless communication apparatus100 satisfies a predetermined condition, the data communication controlunit 160 turns on the data communication function. Meanwhile, when theacquired communication quality is bad on the basis of the thresholdvalue and the movement distance of the wireless communication apparatus100 does not satisfy the predetermined condition, the data communicationcontrol unit 160 turns off the data communication function. Here, thepredetermined condition is that the movement distance (for example, themovement distance per minute) of the wireless communication apparatus100 is large on the basis of the threshold value (for example, 100 m).

As such, when the user stays in an environment where the communicationquality is not good, the data communication is suppressed, so thatgeneration of the communication unnecessary for the user can besuppressed.

In this example, ON/OFF of the data communication function is controlledon the basis of the movement distance of the wireless communicationapparatus 100. However, ON/OFF of the data communication function may becontrolled on the basis of the movement speed or the acceleration of thewireless communication apparatus 100. That is, ON/OFF of the datacommunication function can be controlled on the basis of the movementinformation of the wireless communication apparatus 100.

2. Second Embodiment

In the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the example of thecase in which ON/OFF of the data communication function is controlledhas been described. Here, an SMS (Short Message Service) is providedusing a function of a CS (Circuit Switched) domain. In addition, the SMSis used as a reception notification mechanism of an e-mail with respectto the wireless communication apparatus. For this reason, particularlyin the 3G, it is preferable not to turn off the SMS even in anenvironment where the communication quality is relatively bad, similarto the voice call.

Therefore, in a second embodiment of the present disclosure, an exampleof the case in which ON/OFF of the data communication functions otherthan the SMS is controlled in a state in which the SMS is turned on isillustrated.

[Configuration Example of Wireless Communication Apparatus]

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configurationexample of a wireless communication apparatus 101 according to thesecond embodiment of the present disclosure.

The wireless communication apparatus 101 includes a wirelesscommunication unit 111, a data communication processing unit 121, and adata communication control unit 161. The wireless communicationapparatus 101 is obtained by partially modifying the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. Specifically, thewireless communication apparatus 101 is different from the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 in that the wireless communication unit 111,the data communication processing unit 121, and the data communicationcontrol unit 161 are provided, instead of the wireless communicationunit 110, the data communication processing unit 121, and the datacommunication control unit 160. For this reason, portions common to thewireless communication apparatus 100 are denoted with the same referencenumerals and illustration and explanation thereof are omitted.

The data communication processing unit 121 includes an SMS communicationprocessing unit 122 and an SMS communication-excluded data communicationprocessing unit 123.

The SMS communication processing unit 122 executes processing regardingSMS communication through the wireless communication unit 111. The SMScommunication-excluded data communication processing unit 123 executesprocessing regarding the data communication other than the SMScommunication, through the wireless communication unit 111.

The data communication control unit 161 controls ON/OFF of the SMScommunication-excluded data communication processing unit 123, on thebasis of the communication quality. That is, the data communicationcontrol unit 161 performs control to turn off a data communicationfunction other than the SMS communication, when the wirelesscommunication apparatus 101 is in an environment where the communicationquality is not good. Meanwhile, the data communication control unit 161performs control to turn on the data communication function other thanthe SMS communication, when the wireless communication apparatus 101 isin an environment where the communication quality is good.

[Operation Example of Wireless Communication Apparatus]

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 101 according to the second embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Because FIG. 10 is a modification of FIG. 3, portions commonto the case of FIG. 3 are denoted with the same reference numerals andexplanation thereof is omitted. In this example, ON/OFF of the datacommunication function other than the SMS communication is controlled ina state in which the SMS communication is turned on.

When the communication quality detected from the received signal is notless than the threshold value (step S904), the data communicationcontrol unit 161 determines whether the data communication functionother than the SMS communication is turned off (step S921). When thedata communication function other than the SMS communication is notturned off (step S921), the processing proceeds to step S909. Meanwhile,when the data communication function other than the SMS communication isturned off (step S921), the data communication control unit 161 performscontrol to turn on the data communication function other than the SMScommunication (step S922). When the communication quality detected fromthe received signal is less than the threshold value (step S904), thedata communication control unit 161 determines whether the datacommunication function other than the SMS communication is turned on(step S923). When the data communication function other than the SMScommunication is not turned on (step S923), the processing proceeds tostep S909. Meanwhile, when the data communication function other thanthe SMS communication is turned on (step S923), the data communicationcontrol unit 161 performs control to turn off the data communicationfunction other than the SMS communication (step S924).

As such, the data communication functions that are included by thewireless communication apparatus 100 may include a data communicationfunction regarding packet communication and a data communicationfunction regarding SMS communication. In this case, the datacommunication control unit 161 can set a data communication function towhich the high priority is set as the data communication functionregarding the SMS communication and can control ON/OFF of the datacommunication function other than the SMS communication.

As such, only a specific communication mechanism is turned on, so thatthe risk of transmission delay of information with high emergency can beavoided.

3. Third Embodiment

In the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the example of thecase in which ON/OFF of the data communication function is controlledhas been described. Here, LTE and LTE-Advanced generation wirelesscommunication based on an IP is assumed. In the LTE and LTE-Advancedgeneration wireless communication, the voice communication processingunit and the data communication processing unit in the wirelesscommunication apparatus can be distinguished by a difference of QoS(Quality of Service).

For example, because a currently provided voice call service enables anemergency call, the currently provided voice call service is consideredas a service that places a high value on the QoS. As a packetcommunication service, an existing best-effort communication servicewith the relatively low QoS and a communication service with the highQoS such as the voice call service provided by the carrier coexist. Forthis reason, the communication service with the high QoS corresponds toa communication service that is realized by the voice communicationprocessing unit 130 illustrated in FIG. 1 and the communication servicewith the low QoS corresponds to a communication service that is realizedby the data communication processing unit 120 illustrated in FIG.

Therefore, in the third embodiment of the present disclosure, an exampleof the case in which ON/OFF of a data communication function to realizethe communication service with the low QoS is controlled in a state inwhich a data communication function to realize the communication servicewith the high QoS is turned on is illustrated. A wireless communicationapparatus according to the third embodiment of the present disclosure isobtained by partially modifying the wireless communication apparatus 100illustrated in FIG. 1. For this reason, portions common to the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 are denoted with the same reference numeralsand explanation thereof is omitted.

[Operation Example of Wireless Communication Apparatus]

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of a wireless communicationapparatus 100 according to the third embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Because FIG. 11 is a modification of FIG. 3, portions commonto the case of FIG. 3 are denoted with the same reference numerals andexplanation thereof is omitted.

When the communication quality detected from the received signal is notless than the threshold value (step S904), the data communicationcontrol unit 160 determines whether the data communication function withthe low QoS is turned off (step S925). When the data communicationfunction with the low QoS is not turned off (step S925), the processingproceeds to step S909. Meanwhile, when the data communication functionwith the low QoS is turned off (step S925), the data communicationcontrol unit 160 performs control to turn on the data communicationfunction with the low QoS (step S926).

When the communication quality detected from the received signal is lessthan the threshold value (step S904), the data communication controlunit 160 determines whether the data communication function with the lowQoS is turned on (step S927). When the data communication function withthe low QoS is not turned on (step S927), the processing proceeds tostep S909. Meanwhile, when the data communication function with the lowQoS is turned on (step S927), the data communication control unit 160performs control to turn off the data communication function with thelow QoS (step S928).

As such, the data communication function to which the high priority isset can be set as a voice call function or a data communication functionregarding a voice call service to which the high priority is set. Inthis case, when the acquired communication quality is bad on the basisof the threshold value, the data communication control unit 160 performscontrol to turn on/off the other data communication functions, in astate in which the data communication function to which the highpriority is set is turned on.

As such, only a specific communication mechanism is turned on, so thatthe risk of transmission delay of information with high emergency can beavoided.

4. Fourth Embodiment

In the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the example of thecase in which ON/OFF of the data communication function is controlled onthe basis of the communication quality has been described. Here, only aprotocol (specific protocol) applying constant load or more to a networkis restricted, so that wasted radio resources generated in anenvironment where the communication quality is not good can bedecreased.

Therefore, in a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure, an exampleof the case in which ON/OFF of a data communication functioncommunicated with the specific protocol is controlled in a state inwhich a data communication function communicated with a protocol otherthan the specific protocol is turned on is illustrated.

[Configuration Example of Wireless Communication Apparatus]

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configurationexample of a wireless communication apparatus 300 according to thefourth embodiment of the present disclosure. The wireless communicationapparatus 300 is obtained by partially modifying the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. For this reason,portions common to the wireless communication apparatus 100 are denotedwith the same reference numerals and explanation thereof is omitted.

The wireless communication apparatus 300 includes a data communicationcontrol unit 162, a restriction protocol list storage unit 310, and aprotocol restriction setting unit 320.

The restriction protocol list storage unit 310 stores a list(restriction protocol list) showing information regarding a protocol(specific protocol) to be turned off, when the wireless communicationapparatus 300 is in an environment where the communication quality isnot good. In addition, the restriction protocol list storage unit 310supplies content of the stored restriction protocol list to the protocolrestriction setting unit 320. The restriction protocol list will bedescribed in detail with reference to FIG. 13.

Here, the restriction protocol list that is stored in the restrictionprotocol list storage unit 310 may be set by the user or the carrier.The restriction protocol list that is stored in the restriction protocollist storage unit 310 may be dynamically downloaded from otherinformation processing apparatus (for example, a server) by wire orwireless and may be overwritten.

The protocol restriction setting unit 320 performs setting to controlON/OFF of the data communication function communicated with the specificprotocol, using the restriction protocol list stored in the restrictionprotocol list storage unit 310.

The data communication control unit 162 controls ON/OFF of the datacommunication function communicated with the specific protocol,according to setting content set by the protocol restriction settingunit 320. For example, the data communication control unit 162 performscontrol to turn off the data communication function communicated withthe specific protocol, when the wireless communication apparatus 300 isin an environment where the communication quality is not good.Meanwhile, the data communication control unit 162 performs control toturn on the data communication function communicated with the specificprotocol, only when the wireless communication apparatus 300 is in anenvironment where the communication quality is good.

For example, the protocol applying the constant load or more to thenetwork is set as the specific protocol (restriction protocol), so thatwasted radio resources generated in an environment where thecommunication quality is not good can be decreased and the capacity canbe efficiently improved. In addition, a cheap communication cost can beprovided to a user who uses a scheme to turn off the data communicationfunction communicated with the specific protocol that may apply the loadto the base station, in an environment where the communication qualityis not good. The user can use the scheme on the basis of the restrictionprotocol list stored in the restriction protocol list storage unit 310.According to a use situation (for example, a use period and the numberof targeted specific protocols) of the scheme, an increase/decrease ofthe communication cost may be determined. Thereby, the carrier canimprove the capacity and the user can receive a cheap communicationservice.

[Example of Restriction Protocol List]

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of the restriction protocollist that is stored in the restriction protocol list storage unit 310according to the fourth embodiment of the present disclosure. In FIG.13, a relation between a protocol type 311 and a threshold value (SNR)312 is illustrated.

As illustrated in FIG. 13, in the fourth embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a threshold value (threshold value (SNR) 312) is set to eachprotocol included in the restriction protocol list. For example, 3.0 dBis set as the threshold value to an HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)used by a web browser. In addition, 3.0 dB is set as the threshold valueto an HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer) usedby the web browser.

For example, the data communication control unit 162 performs control toturn off the data communication function communicated with the protocolin which the communication quality (SNR) becomes the threshold value(threshold value (SNR) 312) or less.

Here, each value of the threshold value (SNR) 312 is determinedaccording to the load applied to the network. That is, the thresholdvalue (SNR) 312 is a value that corresponds to the priority of theprotocol to be turned off. For example, a relatively small thresholdvalue is set to a protocol in which the load applied to the network isrelatively small. Meanwhile, a relatively large threshold value is setto a protocol in which the load applied to the network is relativelylarge. That is, the high priority is set to the protocol in which theload applied to the network is relatively small and the low priority isset to the protocol in which the load applied to the network isrelatively large.

For example, it is assumed that the load applied to the network isrelatively small, in the HTTP and the HTTPS used by the web browser. Forthis reason, the relatively small threshold value is set to the HTTP andthe HTTPS. That is, the high priority is set to the HTTP and the HTTPS.

A TCP (Transport Control Protocol) and a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) ofa transport layer may be included as the restriction protocols. In thiscase, because the TCP in which retransmission is performed is atransmission method in which the load applied to the base station isrelatively large, setting to preferentially turn off the TCP accordingto the communication quality may be performed.

The types of the protocols illustrated in FIG. 13 are not limitative butexemplary. Not applying the load to the base station according to thedeterioration in the communication quality can be applied to a varietyof different protocols.

The protocol restriction setting unit 320 may set only a part of theprotocols illustrated in FIG. 13 as the protocols (specific protocols)to control ON/OFF of the data communication function. The setting can beperformed on the basis of a user operation. The setting may be performedby the carrier.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 13, the SNR is used as the thresholdvalue. However, other communication quality such as the SIR and the SINRmay be used as the threshold value.

For example, when the communication qualities acquired by thecommunication quality acquiring unit 150 are classified into five stepsand are used, the communication qualities of the five steps may be usedas the threshold values. When the wireless communication apparatus 300can calculate an effective communication rate (real communication rate)from the SNR, the SIR, the SINR, and the congestion degree, theeffective communication rate may be set as the threshold value.

[Operation Example of Wireless Communication Apparatus]

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 300 according to the fourth embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Because FIG. 14 is a modification of FIG. 3, portions commonto the case of FIG. 3 are denoted with the same reference numerals andexplanation thereof is omitted.

The data communication control unit 162 determines whether there is aprotocol in which the communication quality detected from the receivedsignal becomes less than the threshold value (step S931). That is, it isdetermined whether there is a protocol in which the detectedcommunication quality becomes less than the threshold value, among theprotocols stored in the restriction protocol list storage unit 310 (stepS931).

When there is no protocol in which the detected communication qualitybecomes less than the threshold value (step S931), the datacommunication control unit 162 determines whether there is a datacommunication function in an OFF state (step S932). When there is nodata communication function in the OFF state (step S932), the processingproceeds to step S909. Meanwhile, when there is the data communicationfunction in the OFF state (step S932), the data communication controlunit 162 performs control to turn on all the data communicationfunctions (step S933).

When there is the protocol in which the detected communication qualitybecomes less than the threshold value (step S931), the datacommunication control unit 162 determines whether the data communicationfunction communicated with the protocol is turned on (step S934). Whenthe data communication function communicated with the protocol is notturned on (step S934), the processing proceeds to step S909. Meanwhile,when the data communication function communicated with the protocol isturned on (step S934), the data communication control unit 162 performscontrol to turn off the data communication function communicated withthe protocol (step S935).

As such, the data communication functions that are included by thewireless communication apparatus 300 may include data communicationfunctions regarding a plurality of protocols. The threshold value toturn off the data communication function regarding the specific protocolis associated with the specific protocol. When the acquiredcommunication quality is good on the basis of the threshold valueassociated with the specific protocol, the data communication controlunit 162 turns on the data communication function regarding the specificprotocol. Meanwhile, when the acquired communication quality is bad onthe basis of the threshold value associated with the specific protocol,the data communication control unit 162 turns off the data communicationfunction regarding the specific protocol.

As such, the data communication using the protocol (for example, thespecific protocol in which the retransmission is performed) applying theload to the base station can be suppressed in an environment where thecommunication quality is deteriorated. Thereby, the radio resources thatbecome wasted by stopping the communication service on the way can bedecreased.

Fifth Embodiment

In the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the example of thecase in which ON/OFF of the data communication function is controlled onthe basis of the communication quality has been described. Here, it isassumed that there is a user who desires to use an application in whichthe data communication is necessary, even in an environment where thecommunication quality is not good. In this case, a method of turning onthe data communication function only when a specific application startsor turning on the data communication function by a user operation isconsidered.

Therefore, in the fifth embodiment of the present disclosure, an exampleof the case in which ON/OFF of the data communication function iscontrolled when the application starts or an operation is input from theuser is illustrated.

[Configuration Example of Wireless Communication Apparatus]

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configurationexample of a wireless communication apparatus 350 according to the fifthembodiment of the present disclosure. The wireless communicationapparatus 350 is obtained by partially modifying the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. For this reason,portions common to the wireless communication apparatus 100 are denotedwith the same reference numerals and explanation thereof is omitted.

The wireless communication apparatus 350 includes a data communicationcontrol unit 163, a display control unit 171, an application informationstorage unit 360, and an application start detecting unit 370.

The application information storage unit 360 associates applicationinformation including information (for example, an application name) toidentify an application and information regarding data communication andstores the information. In addition, the application information storageunit 360 supplies the stored application information to the applicationstart detecting unit 370. Storage content of the application informationstorage unit 360 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 16Aand 16B.

The application start detecting unit 370 detects a start of anapplication in which the data communication is necessary, on the basisof the application information stored in the application informationstorage unit 360. When the start of the application in which the datacommunication is necessary is detected, the application start detectingunit 370 notifies the data communication control unit 163 of informationshowing that the start of the application is detected. For example, theapplication start detecting unit 370 can detect the start of theapplication, using a method notified by an OS (Operating System) or theapplication. The application start detecting unit 370 may analyze a logoutput by the OS or the application and detect the start of theapplication.

[Example of Storage Content of Application Information Storage Unit]

FIGS. 16A and 16B are diagrams illustrating an example of storagecontent of the application information storage unit 360 according to thefifth embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 16A illustrates thecase in which content of automatically ON 363 is in an initial state andFIG. 16B illustrates the case in which the content of the automaticallyON 363 is changed by a user operation.

In the application information storage unit 360, applicationidentification information 361, data communication presence or absence362, and the automatically ON 363 are associated with each other and arestored.

The application identification information 361 is identificationinformation to identify an application. In FIGS. 16A and 16B, in orderto facilitate the description, application names are simplified andillustrated in the application identification information 361.

The data communication presence or absence 362 is information that showswhether an application is an application in which the data communicationis necessary. FIGS. 16A and 16B illustrate an example of the case inwhich “presence” is stored with respect to an application in which thedata communication is necessary and “absence” is stored with respect toan application in which the data communication is not necessary.

The automatically ON 363 is information that shows whether the datacommunication function is automatically turned on when the applicationin which the data communication is necessary starts. This informationmay be preset or may be set manually by the user on a setting screen, asillustrated in FIGS. 17A and 17B. FIGS. 16A and 16B illustrate anexample of the case in which “Yes” is stored when setting toautomatically turn on the data communication function is given and “No”is stored when setting not to automatically turn on the datacommunication function is given. As such, information showing whetherthe data communication regarding the application is automaticallyexecuted is associated with the application that performs the datacommunication.

[Display Example of Setting Screen]

FIGS. 17A and 17B are diagrams illustrating a display example of asetting screen (application option setting screen 210) that is displayedon the display unit 200 according to the fifth embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The application option setting screen 210 is a displayscreen that is used when storage content (automatically ON 363) of theapplication information storage unit 360 is changed.

FIG. 17A illustrates a display example in the case in which the contentof the automatically ON 363 is in the initial state (in the case of astate illustrated in FIG. 16A). FIG. 17B illustrates a display examplein the case in which the content of the automatically ON 363 is set bythe user operation (in the case of a state illustrated in FIG. 16B).

On the application option setting screen 210, each item corresponding tothe storage content of the application information storage unit 360illustrated in FIGS. 16A and 16B are displayed. For example, on theapplication option setting screen 210, an “application name”corresponding to the application identification information 361 and“automatically ON” to change the content of the automatically ON 363 aredisplayed. In a display region of the “automatically ON”, “O (radiobutton)” is displayed with respect to an application in which the datacommunication presence or absence 362 is “presence” and “-” is displayedwith respect to an application in which the data communication presenceor absence 362 is “absence”. On the application option setting screen210, the change is enabled with respect to only the application in whichthe data communication presence or absence 362 is “presence”.

For example, when the application in which the data communication isnecessary starts and setting to automatically turn on the datacommunication function is performed, a check mark (black circle) isattached to the radio button. If a pressing operation of an OK button211 is performed, content is determined and is stored in the applicationinformation storage unit 360. For example, the automatically ON 363changes from “No” to “Yes” in the application information storage unit360. When a pressing operation of a return button 212 is performed, animmediately previous screen is displayed.

As such, the applications in which the data communication is necessarycan be classified into the application to automatically turn on the datacommunication function and the application not to automatically turn onthe data communication function. When the start of the application inwhich the data communication is necessary is detected by the applicationstart detecting unit 370, the data communication control unit 163controls ON/OFF of the data communication function, according to theclassification.

For example, the case in which the start of the application in which thedata communication is necessary is detected by the application startdetecting unit 370 in a state in which the data communication functionis turned off is assumed. In this case, when the start detectedapplication is the application to automatically turn on the datacommunication function (when the automatically ON 363 is “Yes”), thedata communication control unit 163 performs control to turn on the datacommunication function. Meanwhile, when the start detected applicationis the application not to automatically turn on the data communicationfunction (when the automatically ON 363 is “No”), the data communicationcontrol unit 163 does not turn on the data communication function.However, in this case, the application start detecting unit 370 notifiesthe display control unit 171 of information showing that the startdetected application is the application not to automatically turn on thedata communication function (the automatically ON 363 is “No”). For thisreason, the display control unit 171 displays a display screen to allowthe user to confirm whether the data communication function is turnedon, on the display unit 200. This display example is illustrated in FIG.18B.

For example, when the start of the application in which the datacommunication is necessary is detected by the application startdetecting unit 370 in a state in which the data communication functionis turned on, special display is not performed and a normal applicationoutput is displayed on the display unit 200.

When the start of the application in which the data communication is notnecessary is detected by the application start detecting unit 370,special display is not performed and a normal application output isdisplayed on the display unit 200.

[Example of the Case in which Data Communication Function is Turned onby User Operation]

FIGS. 18A and 18B are diagrams illustrating an example of a displayscreen that is displayed on the display unit 200 according to the fifthembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 18A illustrates a display example of the case in which a messagedisplay region 221 and a data communication function turning-on button222 are displayed. In the message display region 221, messages showingthat the data communication function is turned off and that the datacommunication function can be turned on by pressing the datacommunication function turning-on button 222 are displayed.

The data communication function turning-on button 222 is a button thatis pressed when the data communication function is turned on. That is,if the data communication function turning-on button 222 is pressed bythe user, the data communication control unit 163 performs control toturn on the data communication processing unit 120.

As such, when it is necessary for the user to execute an application dueto the inevitable situation in an environment where the communicationquality is not good or the user should execute the application, the usercan turn on the data communication function intentionally.

FIG. 18B illustrates a display example of a display screen that isdisplayed when the application in which the data communication isnecessary starts in a state in which the data communication function isturned off. On the display screen that is illustrated in FIG. 18B, amessage display region 225 and a data communication execution button 226are displayed.

In the message display region 225, messages showing that the datacommunication function is turned off and that the data communication canbe executed by pressing the data communication execution button 226 aredisplayed.

The data communication execution button 226 is a button that is pressedwhen the data communication function is turned on and the startedapplication is automatically read again. That is, if the datacommunication execution button 226 is pressed by the user, the datacommunication control unit 163 performs control to turn on the datacommunication processing unit 120. In addition, the started applicationis automatically read again and the application is executed.

As such, pressing of the data communication execution button 226 becomesan operation to confirm whether the data communication is executed bystarting the application in which the data communication becomesnecessary, in an environment where the communication quality isdeteriorated.

When the application classified into the application in which the datacommunication function is automatically turned on starts in a state inwhich the data communication function is turned off in an environmentwhere the communication quality is not good, the data communicationfunction is controlled to be automatically turned on. Thereby, theapplication with the data communication can be easily used.

The display screens that are illustrated in FIGS. 18A and 18B are erasedby a certain user operation (for example, an operation of a returnbutton) or after a predetermined time passes.

When the display unit 200 is configured using a touch panel, pressingoperations of the data communication function turning-on button 222 andthe data communication execution button 226 are performed. However,other operation members may be used. For example, a pressing operationof each button may be performed by a certain key input using a keyboard.This display is exemplary and various modifications can be made withoutdeparting from of the present disclosure.

[Operation Example of Wireless Communication Apparatus]

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 350 according to the fifth embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Because FIG. 19 is a modification of FIG. 3, portions commonto the case of FIG. 3 are denoted with the same reference numerals andexplanation thereof is omitted.

When the communication quality detected from the received signal is lessthan the threshold value (step S904), the data communication controlunit 163 determines whether the application in which the datacommunication is necessary is being executed (step S941). When theapplication in which the data communication is necessary is beingexecuted (step S941), the processing proceeds to step S909.

When the application in which the data communication is necessary is notbeing executed (step S941), the data communication control unit 163determines whether the start of the application in which the datacommunication is necessary is detected by the application startdetecting unit 370 (step S942). When the start of the application inwhich the data communication is necessary is not detected (step S942),the processing proceeds to step S907.

When the start of the application in which the data communication isnecessary is detected (step S942), the data communication control unit163 determines whether the start detected application is set to beautomatically turned on (step S943). When the start detected applicationis set to be automatically turned on (step S943), the processingproceeds to step S905.

When the start detected application is not set to be automaticallyturned on (step S943), the data communication control unit 163determines whether the data communication function is turned on (stepS944). When the data communication function is turned on (step S944),the processing proceeds to step S909.

When the data communication function is turned off (step S944), thedisplay control unit 171 displays information showing that the datacommunication function is turned off, on the display unit 200, on thebasis of the instruction from the data communication control unit 163(step S945). For example, the display screens that are illustrated inFIGS. 18A and 18B are displayed.

Next, the data communication control unit 163 determines whether anexecution instruction operation of the data communication is performed(step S946). For example, when the display screen illustrated in FIG.18A is displayed on the display unit 200 (step S945), it is determinedwhether the data communication function turning-on button 222 is pressed(step S946).

When the execution instruction operation of the data communication isperformed (step S946), the processing proceeds to step S906. Meanwhile,when the execution instruction operation of the data communication isnot performed (for example, when the execution instruction operation ofthe data communication is not performed even after the predeterminedtime passes) (step S946), the processing proceeds to step S909.

As such, the data communication control unit 163 can notify the user ofinformation showing that the data communication function is turned off,at timing when the start of the application in which the datacommunication is necessary is detected. When the start of theapplication is detected, the acquired communication quality is bad onthe basis of the threshold value, and the information showing that thedata communication is automatically executed is associated with theapplication, the data communication control unit 163 turns on the datacommunication function. Meanwhile, when the acquired communicationquality is bad on the basis of the threshold value and the informationshowing that the data communication is not automatically executed isassociated with the application, the data communication control unit 163turns off the data communication function.

As such, in the fifth embodiment of the present disclosure, even whenthe application in which the data communication is necessary erroneouslystarts, not an error display screen, a user-friendly display screen canbe provided.

In an environment where the communication quality is bad, theapplication in which the data communication function may be turned offand the application n which the data communication function is notturned off can be classified. Therefore, convenience of the user can beimproved.

Because the user can turn on the data communication function even in anenvironment where the communication quality is bad, use with flexibilityis enabled.

6. Sixth Embodiment

In the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the example of thecase in which ON/OFF of the data communication function is controlled onthe basis of the communication quality has been described. Here, ON/OFFof the data communication function is controlled on the basis of thepast data communication amount, so that wasted radio resources can bedecreased.

Therefore, in a sixth embodiment of the present disclosure, an exampleof the case in which ON/OFF of the data communication function iscontrolled on the basis of the past data communication amount isillustrated.

[Configuration Example of Wireless Communication Apparatus]

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configurationexample of a wireless communication apparatus 400 according to the sixthembodiment of the present disclosure. The wireless communicationapparatus 400 is obtained by partially modifying the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. For this reason,portions common to the wireless communication apparatus 100 are denotedwith the same reference numerals and explanation thereof is omitted.

The wireless communication apparatus 400 includes a data communicationcontrol unit 164, a communication amount calculating unit 410, and acommunication amount storage unit 420.

The communication amount calculating unit 410 calculates a communicationamount for each connection destination and stores the calculatedcommunication amount in the communication amount storage unit 420 foreach connection destination. For example, when the application in whichthe data communication is necessary starts, the communication amountcalculating unit 410 calculates a communication amount that is generatedin a connection state with a connection destination to use theapplication. Here, the communication amount may be calculated for everyuplink and downlink.

The communication amount storage unit 420 stores a communication amountof each connection access calculated by the communication amountcalculating unit 410 as statistical information, for each connectiondestination (or each application). The communication amount storage unit420 supplies the stored communication amount (statistical information)for each connection destination to the data communication control unit164. The statistical information that is stored in the communicationamount storage unit 420 will be described in detail with reference toFIGS. 21A and 21B. The communication amount storage unit 420 is anexample of a storage unit according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

The data communication control unit 164 controls ON/OFF of the datacommunication processing unit 164, on the basis of the communicationquality acquired by the communication quality acquiring unit 150 and thecommunication amount (statistical information) for each connectiondestination (or each application) stored in the communication amountstorage unit 420.

[Example of Storage Content of Communication Amount Storage Unit]

FIGS. 21A and 21B are diagrams illustrating an example of storagecontent of the communication amount storage unit 420 according to thesixth embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 21A illustrates anexample of the case in which the communication amount for eachapplication is stored as the statistical information. FIG. 21Billustrates an example of the case in which the communication amount foreach connection destination (for example, a URL (Uniform ResourceLocator) and an IP address of the connection destination) is stored asthe statistical information.

In the communication amount storage unit 420 illustrated in FIG. 21A,application identification information 421 and an average communicationamount 422 are associated with each other and are stored.

The application identification information 421 is identificationinformation to identify the application. The application identificationinformation 421 corresponds to the application identificationinformation 361 illustrated in FIGS. 16A and 16B.

The average communication amount 422 is an average value of thecommunication amounts with respect to the application in which the datacommunication is necessary. For example, when one connection isperformed with respect to the application in which the datacommunication is necessary, the communication amount regarding theconnection is associated with the application and is recorded in theaverage communication amount 422. When a plurality of connections areperformed with respect to the application in which the datacommunication is necessary, a value (average value) that is obtained bydividing a total value of the communication amounts regarding theplurality of connections by the number of connections is associated withthe application and is recorded in the average communication amount 422.

In the communication amount storage unit 420 illustrated in FIG. 21B, aURL and IP address 426 and an average communication amount 427 areassociated with each other and are stored.

The URL and IP address 426 is information that shows a connectiondestination of the data communication.

The average communication amount 427 is an average value of thecommunication amounts with the connection destination of the datacommunication. A method of calculating the average communication amountis the same as the method of calculating the average communicationamount illustrated in FIG. 21A.

FIGS. 21A and 21B illustrate an example of the case in which an averagevalue of the total values of the communication amounts is stored as thestatistical information, when the plurality of connections areperformed. However, information regarding dispersion may be stored asthe statistical information. In the communication amount storage unit420, the communication amounts may be classified into an uplink and adownlink for each connection destination and may be stored, instead ofthe method of classifying the communication amounts for each connectiondestination and storing the communication amounts.

[Operation Example of Wireless Communication Apparatus]

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 400 according to the sixth embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Because FIG. 22 is a modification of FIG. 3, portions commonto the case of FIG. 3 are denoted with the same reference numerals andexplanation thereof is omitted.

When the communication quality detected from the received signal is lessthan the threshold value (step S904), the data communication controlunit 164 determines whether the processing in which the datacommunication is necessary is being executed (step S951). When theprocessing in which the data communication is necessary is beingexecuted (step S951), the processing proceeds to step S909.

When the processing in which the data communication is necessary isbeing executed, the communication amount calculating unit 410 calculatesthe communication amount of the data communication regarding theprocessing and stores the calculated communication amount in thecommunication amount storage unit 420 for each connection destination(or each application).

When the processing in which the data communication is necessary is notbeing executed (step S951), the data communication control unit 164determines whether the start of the processing in which the datacommunication is necessary is detected (step S952). When the start ofthe processing in which the data communication is necessary is notdetected (step S952), the processing proceeds to step S907.

When the start of the processing in which the data communication isnecessary is detected (step S952), the data communication control unit164 acquires the communication amount regarding the start detectedprocessing from the communication amount storage unit 420 (step S953).For example, the communication amount that is associated with eachconnection destination (or each application) connected when the startdetected processing is executed and is stored is acquired (step S953).

Next, the data communication control unit 164 determines whether theacquired communication amount is less than the threshold value (stepS954). When the acquired communication amount is less than the thresholdvalue (step S954), the processing proceeds to step S905. Meanwhile, whenthe acquired communication amount is not less than the threshold value(step S954), the data communication control unit 164 determines whetherthe data communication function is turned on (step S955). When the datacommunication function is turned on (step S955), the processing proceedsto step S908. Meanwhile, when the data communication function is turnedoff (step S955), the processing proceeds to step S909.

As such, the data communication control unit 164 can control ON/OFF ofthe data communication function, on the basis of the acquiredcommunication amount (statistical information) and the acquiredcommunication quality. Specifically, when the execution of the datacommunication is instructed, the acquired communication quality is badon the basis of the threshold value, and the statistical informationregarding the data communication satisfies the predetermined condition,the data communication control unit 164 turns on the data communicationfunction. Meanwhile, when the acquired communication quality is bad onthe basis of the threshold value and the statistical informationregarding the data communication does not satisfy the predeterminedcondition, the data communication control unit 164 turns off the datacommunication function. Here, the predetermined condition is that thestatistical information shows a small value on the basis of thethreshold value.

As such, control can be performed such that the data communicationfunction is turned off when the wireless communication apparatus isconnected to the connection destination with the large datacommunication amount in an environment where the communication qualityis bad and the data communication function is turned on when thewireless communication apparatus is connected to the connectiondestination with the small data communication amount in an environmentwhere the communication quality is bad. That is, control to turn off thedata communication function with respect to only the application withthe large communication amount in an environment where the communicationquality is bad is enabled.

7. Seventh Embodiment

In the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the example of thecase in which ON/OFF of the data communication function is controlled onthe basis of the communication quality has been described. Here, aprotocol configuration of the LTE includes at least a C-plane (Contentplane) and a U-plane (User plane). In the C-plane and the U-plane,communication paths are the same. However, the C-plane and the U-planecorrespond to lower layers to be logically separated. For example, inthe C-plane, various control signals are exchanged between a corenetwork including the base station and the wireless communicationapparatus. In the U-plane, user data is handled. For this reason, in theC-plane, it is preferable to turn on the data communication function atall times, as long as the data communication function is not out ofservice.

Therefore, in a seventh embodiment of the present disclosure, an exampleof the case in which ON/OFF of the data communication function in theU-plane is controlled on the basis of the communication quality, in astate in which the C-plane is turned on, is illustrated.

[Configuration Example of Communication System]

FIG. 23 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configurationexample of a communication system 500 according to the seventhembodiment of the present disclosure.

The communication system 500 includes a wireless communication apparatus510, a base station 520, a communication control apparatus 530, and amail server 540. The wireless communication apparatus 510 is obtained bypartially modifying the wireless communication apparatus 100 illustratedin FIG. 1. For this reason, portions common to the wirelesscommunication apparatus 100 are denoted with the same reference numeralsand explanation thereof is omitted.

The base station 520 is a base station that is operated by the carrier.That is, the base station 520 is a moving object communication basestation (NodeB or eNodeB) that connects the wireless communicationapparatus holding contract authentication information regarding thecarrier and the communication control apparatus 530 operated by thecarrier through a wireless line.

FIG. 23 illustrates only one carrier (carrier who operates the basestation 520 and the communication control apparatus 530) to facilitatethe description. The present disclosure can be applied to the case inwhich there are two or more carriers. FIG. 23 illustrates only the basestation 520 as the base station operated by the carrier to facilitatethe description. However, the present disclosure can be applied to thecase in which there are two or more base stations operated by thecarrier.

The communication control apparatus 530 is a communication controlapparatus managed by the carrier who provides a wireless connectionservice and performs authentication control of the wirelesscommunication apparatus connected through the base station 520. Thecommunication control apparatus 530 connects the authenticated wirelesscommunication apparatus to the mail server 540. The communicationcontrol apparatus 530 and the mail server 540 are connected to a publicline network (public line network such as a telephone network or theInternet). However, in FIG. 23, illustration and explanation of thepublic line network are omitted to facilitate the description.

The communication control apparatus 530 includes a C-plane dataprocessing unit 531 and a U-plane data processing unit 532. The C-planedata processing unit 531 executes processing regarding the datacommunication in the C-plane. The U-plane data processing unit 532executes processing regarding the data communication in the U-plane.

The mail server 540 is an information processing apparatus to executeeach processing regarding management and transmission of the e-mail andincludes an emergency determining unit 541 and an e-mail storage unit542.

The emergency determining unit 541 determines whether the e-mail storedin the e-mail storage unit 542 is an e-mail with high emergency andtransmits a determination result to the wireless communication apparatus510 through the C-plane data processing unit 531 of the communicationcontrol apparatus 530.

The e-mail storage unit 542 stores an e-mail that becomes a transmissiontarget. The stored e-mail is transmitted to the wireless communicationapparatus 510 through the U-plane data processing unit 532.

The wireless communication apparatus 510 includes a data communicationcontrol unit 165, a C-plane data receiving unit 511, and a restrictionplane setting unit 512. The restriction plane setting unit 512 sets aplane to be restricted and supplies setting content to the C-plane datareceiving unit 511. For example, when the U-plane is set as the plane tobe restricted by the restriction plane setting unit 512, the datacommunication control unit 165 performs control to turn on/off the datacommunication function in the U-plane, on the basis of the communicationquality.

The C-plane data receiving unit 511 determines whethertransmission/reception of data using the U-plane is necessary, withrespect to the information supplied from the wireless communication unit110, and supplies a determination result to the data communicationcontrol unit 165. For example, when it is determined by the C-plane datareceiving unit 511 that the transmission/reception of data using theU-plane is necessary, with respect to the information supplied from thewireless communication unit 110, a determination result is supplied tothe data communication control unit 165. In this case, the datacommunication control unit 165 performs control to turn on the datacommunication function other than the C-plane.

For example, the case in which the wireless communication apparatus 510receives a determination result showing that any one of the e-mailsstored in the e-mail storage unit 542 of the mail server 540 isdetermined as the e-mail with the high emergency by the emergencydetermining unit 541, through the C-plane, is assumed. In this case, theC-plane data receiving unit 511 acquires the determination result andsupplies the acquired determination result to the data communicationcontrol unit 165. In this case, the data communication control unit 165turns on the data communication function other than the C-plane.Thereby, the e-mail with the high emergency can be received.

The example illustrated in FIG. 23 (the example of the e-mail) isexemplary and the present disclosure can be applied to information otherthan the e-mail as information received through the data communicationfunction other than the C-plane. For example, the present disclosure canbe applied to image information or information necessary for switching aUSIM or an SIM (Subscriber Identity Module).

[Operation Example of Wireless Communication Apparatus]

FIG. 24 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing sequenceof data communication control processing of the wireless communicationapparatus 510 according to the seventh embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Because FIG. 24 is a modification of FIG. 3, portions commonto the case of FIG. 3 are denoted with the same reference numerals andexplanation thereof is omitted.

When the communication quality detected from the received signal is notless than the threshold value (step S904), the data communicationcontrol unit 165 determines whether the data communication function inthe U-plane is turned off (step S961). When the data communicationfunction in the U-plane is not turned off (step S961), the processingproceeds to step S909. Meanwhile, when the data communication functionin the U-plane is turned off (step S961), the data communication controlunit 165 performs control to turn on the data communication function inthe U-plane (step S962).

When the communication quality detected from the received signal is lessthan the threshold value (step S904), the data communication controlunit 165 determines whether the data communication function in theU-plane is turned on (step S963). When the data communication functionin the U-plane is not turned on (step S963), the processing proceeds tostep S909. Meanwhile, when the data communication function in theU-plane is turned on (step S963), the C-plane data receiving unit 511determines whether a signal showing that transmission/reception of thedata using the U-plane is necessary is received (step S964). When thesignal showing that transmission/reception of the data using the U-planeis necessary is received (step S964), the processing proceeds to stepS961. Meanwhile, when the signal showing that transmission/reception ofthe data using the U-plane is necessary is not received (step S964), thedata communication control unit 165 performs control to turn off thedata communication function in the U-plane (step S965).

As such, in an environment where the communication quality isdeteriorated, only control information having a relatively smallcapacity size is exchanged between the core network and the wirelesscommunication apparatus 510. Thereby, action to stop the communicationservice on the way, which generates wasted radio resources, can besuppressed.

The reception of the information with the high emergency or thedeterioration of the communication quality due to the concentration ofthe traffic is notified to the wireless communication apparatus 510through the control information, so that the data communication can beminimized in an environment where the communication quality isdeteriorated. In addition, the risk of transmission delay of informationwith high emergency can be avoided.

[Example of Case in which ON/OFF of Data Communication Function Otherthan C-Plane is Controlled by Core Network Side]

The example of the case in which the wireless communication apparatus510 performs control to turn off the data communication function otherthan the C-plane on the basis of the communication quality has beendescribed. However, a core network side may control ON/OFF of the datacommunication function other than the C-plane. For example, the wirelesscommunication apparatus 510 may perform control to turn off the datacommunication function other than the C-plane, on the basis of a signalfrom the core network side received by the wireless communicationapparatus 510 through the C-plane.

For example, the case in which the local traffic concentration isdetected at the core network side is assumed. In this case, a controlsignal to perform control to turn off the data communication functionother than the C-plane can be transmitted from the core network side toany wireless communication apparatus included in a local area.

[Configuration Example of Communication System]

FIG. 25 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configurationexample of a communication system 600 according to the seventhembodiment of the present disclosure. The communication system 600 isobtained by partially modifying the communication system 500 illustratedin FIG. 23. For this reason, portions common to the communication system500 are denoted with the same reference numerals and explanation thereofis omitted.

The communication system 600 includes a wireless communication apparatus510, a base station 520, a communication control apparatus 610, a server620, and a network 630.

The communication control apparatus 610 is a communication controlapparatus managed by the carrier providing a wireless connection serviceand performs authentication control of the wireless communicationapparatus connected through the base station 520. The communicationcontrol apparatus 610 connects the authenticated wireless communicationapparatus to the server 620 through the network 630.

The communication control apparatus 610 includes a C-plane dataprocessing unit 611, a U-plane data processing unit 612, and a C-planedata generating unit 613. The C-plane data processing unit 611 and theU-plane data processing unit 612 correspond to the C-plane dataprocessing unit 531 and the U-plane data processing unit 532 illustratedin FIG. 23.

The server 620 is an information processing apparatus to execute eachprocessing regarding the wireless communication apparatus 510 andincludes a control signal generating unit 621 and a processing managingunit 622. The server 620 may be arranged in the core network and may bemanaged and operated by the carrier. Alternatively, the server 620 maybe arranged outside the core network and may be managed and operated bya business operator other than the carrier.

The processing managing unit 622 manages each processing that isexecuted by the wireless communication apparatus 510. When theprocessing executed by the wireless communication apparatus 510 isdetected, the processing managing unit 622 notifies the control signalgenerating unit 621 of information showing that the processing isdetected.

The control signal generating unit 621 generates a control signal toturn on the data communication function other than the C-plane in thewireless communication apparatus 510. The control signal generating unit621 outputs the generated control signal to the communication controlapparatus 610 (C-plane data generating unit 613) through the network630.

For example, when the processing managing unit 622 detects execution ofUSIM switching processing of the wireless communication apparatus 510,the control signal generating unit 621 generates a control signal toturn on the data communication function other than the C-plane in thewireless communication apparatus 510.

The C-plane data generating unit 613 converts the control signal outputfrom the control signal generating unit 621 into a control signal of aformat enabling communication on the C-plane and outputs the convertedcontrol signal to the C-plane data processing unit 611. As a method ofconverting the format, a method of describing the format in a messagebody of an SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) message exchanged by theC-plane in a text form can be used. As the method of converting theformat, a method of preparing individual SIP messages and replacing amessage with a corresponding SIP message may be used. The method ofconverting the format is not limited to the examples described above andother methods may be used as the method of converting the format.

The network 630 is a public line network (core network) such as atelephone network or the Internet. The network 630 and the communicationcontrol apparatus 610 are connected through a gateway (not illustratedin the drawings).

Here, the case in which the C-plane data receiving unit 511 receives thecontrol signal (control signal to turn on the data communicationfunction other than the C-plane) output from the communication controlapparatus 530 is assumed. In this case, the data communication controlunit 165 performs control according to the received control signal. Forexample, when the data communication function other than the C-plane isturned on, the data communication control unit 165 maintains an ONstate. Meanwhile, when the data communication function other than theC-plane is turned off, the data communication control unit 165 performscontrol to turn on the data communication function.

Here, the case in which the processing managing unit 622 of the server620 instructs any wireless communication apparatus (including thewireless communication apparatus 510) to execute any processing (forexample, acquisition processing of the communication quality of an areawhere each wireless communication apparatus exists) is assumed. In thiscase, the control signal generating unit 621 generates a control signalto execute the processing and outputs the generated control signal tothe communication control apparatus 610 (C-plane data generating unit613) through the network 630. Next, the C-plane data generating unit 613converts the control signal output from the control signal generatingunit 621 into a control signal of a format enabling communication on theC-plane and outputs the converted control signal to the C-plane dataprocessing unit 611. Next, the C-plane data processing unit 611transmits the converted control signal to each wireless communicationapparatus.

Each wireless communication apparatus that has received the controlsignal performs control according to the received control signal. Forexample, when the data communication function other than the C-plane isturned off, each wireless communication apparatus performs control toturn on the data communication function. Each wireless communicationapparatus transmits data including the acquired communication quality tothe server 620 through the U-plane.

When control to turn on the data communication function is performed inthe wireless communication apparatus 510, authentication and approvalprocessing may be executed between the wireless communication apparatus510 and the server 620 through the C-plane. In this case, the control toturn on the data communication function becomes control to permit thedata communication function other than the C-plane and the risk to makethe wireless communication apparatus 510 execute unidentified processingcan be avoided.

Any processing includes processing for starting an application (or anapplication installed) incorporated in the wireless communicationapparatus 510 in advance and performing the data communication throughthe U-plane between the application and the server 620.

The wireless communication apparatus 510 may return a control signal toreject execution of processing requested from the server 620 to theserver 620, without performing control to turn on the data communicationfunction, in an environment where the communication quality is bad.

For example, when a cloud server executes distributed processing using aclient (wireless communication apparatus), the client existing in anenvironment where the communication quality is bad becomes an entitythat applies the load to the network. Therefore, in order to construct acloud system not applying the load to the network, execution of theprocessing requested from the cloud server is rejected in an environmentwhere the communication quality is bad, so that the processing can beexecuted by only the client existing in an environment where thecommunication quality is good.

[Communication Example]

FIG. 26 is a sequence chart illustrating an example of communicationprocessing between apparatuses constituting the communication system 600according to the seventh embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 26illustrates an example of the case in which the server 620 requests thewireless communication apparatus 510 to execute predetermined processing(processing A). In FIG. 26, illustration of the base station 520 and theserver 620 is omitted to facilitate the description.

First, the server 620 transmits an execution request message of theprocessing A to the wireless communication apparatus 510 through thecommunication control apparatus 610 (701 to 704). If the executionrequest message of the processing A is received, the wirelesscommunication apparatus 510 confirms the communication quality in acurrent area (705).

For example, the wireless communication apparatus 510 compares thecommunication quality acquired in the current area with the thresholdvalue and determines whether the communication quality is less than thethreshold value. When the communication quality is equal to or more thanthe threshold value (705), the wireless communication apparatus 510transmits a message to permit the execution of the processing A to theserver 620 through the communication control apparatus 610 (706 to 709).Meanwhile, when the communication quality is less than the thresholdvalue (705), the wireless communication apparatus 510 transmits amessage to reject the execution of the processing A to the server 620through the communication control apparatus 610. The message istransmitted and the operation ends.

After the message to permit the execution of the processing A istransmitted to the server 620 (706), the wireless communicationapparatus 510 starts an application necessary for the processing A andperforms a preparation operation necessary for the execution of theprocessing A (710). If the preparation operation is completed (710), thewireless communication apparatus 510 transmits a message showing thatthe preparation operation of the processing A is completed to the server620 through the communication control apparatus 610 (711 to 714).

After the server 620 receives the message showing that the preparationoperation is completed from the wireless communication apparatus 510(714), the server 620 transmits data necessary for the execution of theprocessing A to the wireless communication apparatus 510 through thecommunication control apparatus 610 (715 to 718).

If the wireless communication apparatus 510 receives the data necessaryfor the execution of the processing A (718), the wireless communicationapparatus 510 starts the execution of the processing A (719). Thewireless communication apparatus 510 transmits an output result obtainedby executing the processing A to the server 620 through thecommunication control apparatus 610 (720 to 723). Hereinafter, theprocessing necessary for the processing A is repeated until an endinstruction of the processing A is transmitted from the server 620 tothe wireless communication apparatus 510 (715 to 723).

When the server 620 ends the processing necessary for the processing A,the server 620 transmits a message showing the end instruction of theprocessing A to the wireless communication apparatus 510 through thecommunication control apparatus 610 (724 to 727). If the wirelesscommunication apparatus 510 receives the message showing the endinstruction of the processing A, the wireless communication apparatus510 ends the execution of the processing A and transmits a messageshowing that the wireless communication apparatus 510 understands theend of the execution of the processing A to the server 620 through thecommunication control apparatus 610 (728 to 731).

[Operation Example of Wireless Communication Apparatus]

FIGS. 27 and 28 are flowcharts illustrating an example of a processingsequence of the data communication control processing of the wirelesscommunication apparatus 510 according to the seventh embodiment of thepresent disclosure. Because FIGS. 27 and 28 are a modification of FIG.24, portions common to the case of FIG. 24 are denoted with the samereference numerals and explanation thereof is omitted.

After the communication quality is acquired (step S903), the datacommunication control unit 165 determines whether the execution requestmessage of the predetermined processing is received from the server 620(step S971). When the execution request message of the predeterminedprocessing is not received (step S971), the processing proceeds to stepS909.

When the execution request message of the predetermined processing isreceived (step S971), the data communication control unit 165 confirmsthe communication quality in the current area (step S904). That is, itis determined whether the acquired communication quality is less thanthe threshold value (step S904). When the communication quality is equalto or more than the threshold value (step S904), the data communicationcontrol unit 165 determines whether the data communication function inthe U-plane is turned off (step S961). When the data communicationfunction in the U-plane is not turned off (step S961), the processingproceeds to step S927. Meanwhile, when the data communication functionin the U-plane is turned off (step S961), the data communication controlunit 165 performs control to turn on the data communication function inthe U-plane (step S962).

Next, the data communication processing unit 120 transmits the messageto permit the execution of the requested processing to the server 620through the communication control apparatus 610 (step S972). Next, theapplication necessary for the requested processing starts and thepreparation operation necessary for the execution of the requestedprocessing is performed (step S973). Next, the data communicationprocessing unit 120 transmits the message showing that the preparationoperation necessary for the execution of the requested processing iscompleted to the server 620 through the communication control apparatus610 (step S974).

Next, it is determined whether the data necessary for the execution ofthe requested processing is received (step S975). When the datanecessary for the execution of the requested processing is not received,the processing proceeds to step S978. Meanwhile, when the data necessaryfor the execution of the requested processing is received (step S975),the requested processing is executed (step S976). Next, the datacommunication processing unit 120 transmits the output result obtainedby executing the requested processing to the server 620 through thecommunication control apparatus 610 (step S977).

Next, it is determined whether the end instruction of the requestedprocessing is transmitted from the server 620 to the wirelesscommunication apparatus 510 (step S978). When the end instruction of therequested processing is not transmitted, the processing returns to stepS975. Meanwhile, when the end instruction of the requested processing istransmitted (step S978), the execution of the requested processing endsand the message showing that the end of the execution of the requestedprocessing has been confirmed is transmitted to the server 620 throughthe communication control apparatus 610 (step S979).

When the communication quality is less than the threshold value (stepS904), the data communication processing unit 120 transmits the messageto reject the execution of the processing to the server 620 through thecommunication control apparatus 610 (step S980).

In this example, the communication quality is confirmed (step S904),after it is determined whether the execution request of thepredetermined processing is received (step S971). However, after thecommunication quality is confirmed and ON/OFF control of the datacommunication function in the U-plane is performed, it may be determinedwhether the execution request of the predetermined processing isreceived. As such, a protocol hierarchy of the data communicationregarding the data communication function included by the wirelesscommunication apparatus 510 includes at least the C-plane and theU-plane. The data communication function that becomes an ON/OFF controltarget can be set as a data communication function regarding datacommunication of the protocol hierarchy other than the C-plane. In thiscase, the data communication control unit 165 can control ON/OFF of thedata communication of the protocol hierarchy other than the C-plane, onthe basis of the control data received through the C-plane and theacquired communication quality.

The mail server 540 and the server 620 can transmit the control signalshowing that the data communication using the U-plane is necessary tothe wireless communication apparatus 510 through the C-plane. In thiscase, the data communication control unit 165 of the wirelesscommunication apparatus 510 can control ON/OFF of the data communicationof the protocol hierarchy other than the C-plane, on the basis of thecontrol data received through the C-plane and the acquired communicationquality. That is, the information processing apparatuses (for example,the mail server 540 and the server 620) other than the wirelesscommunication apparatus 510 can control ON/OFF of the data communicationfunction in the wireless communication apparatus 510. In addition, thecase in which the mail server 540 and the server 620 determine thatsynchronization processing of various databases is necessary between thewireless communication apparatus 510 and the mail server 540 and theserver 620 is assumed. In this case, the mail server 540 and the server620 can transmit the control signal showing that the data communicationusing the U-plane is necessary to the wireless communication apparatus510 through the C-plane. The wireless communication apparatus 510 maydetermine execution, reservation, or rejection of the synchronizationprocessing, according to the communication quality in the current area.

For example, the information processing apparatuses (for example, themail server 540 and the server 620) other than the wirelesscommunication apparatus 510 may acquire the communication quality of thewireless communication at the location where the wireless communicationapparatus 510 exists. In addition, the information processingapparatuses other than the wireless communication apparatus 510 maycontrol ON/OFF of the data communication functions other than the datacommunication function to which the high priority is set, among the datacommunication functions included by the wireless communication apparatus510, on the basis of the acquired communication quality. The mail server540 and the server 620 are an example of an information processingapparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Here, various wireless systems are maintained as the wirelesscommunication systems. The services that are used by the user arevarious from services having a small capacity to services having a largecapacity. In the placement of the base station, because a cell edge hasthe low reception signal strength or is affected by interference fromother cells, the communication quality is not generally good in the celledge. In addition, the case in which the users are locally concentratedduring a certain period of time, the congestion is generated in thespecific base station, and the communication quality is deteriorated isassumed. In an environment where the communication quality isdeteriorated, even though the user requests for the communicationservice, the user may not receive a service with expected quality.

For example, a wireless communication apparatus that exists in anenvironment where noise components (or interference components fromperipheral cells) affect the reception signal strength like the celledge is assumed. The base station transmits a signal having a lowencoding rate (that is, a signal obtained by performing error correctionstrongly) according to a modulation method with a small information bitnumber per symbol to the wireless communication apparatus, by linkadaptation.

Recently, sizes of data exchanged by smart phones increase. As such whenthe data is received at a low transmission rate, a long time isnecessary when the data is demodulated at the application side. In thiscase, because it is difficult to know difficulty of connection at theuser side, it is supposed that the user may often stop the communicationon the way. At this time, the data downloaded in the past becomes wastedand valuable resources are wastefully consumed. As such, it is supposedthat the user may often think that the communication is disabled andterminate the application in the middle of the reception. If thissituation is frequently generated, a large amount of radio resources maybe wasted.

Recently, with the spread of smart phones, the traffic rapidly increasesand communication services of many carriers become hard to be connected.For this reason, it is important to prevent valuable radio resourcesfrom being wastefully used.

In a method using a volume charging system, data downloaded halfway maybe targeted for charging and the cost burden on the user may increase.

Therefore, according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, thedata communication of the wireless communication apparatus that maygenerate the wasted radio resources is automatically stopped, so thatthe wasted radio resources can be suppressed from being generated. Theradio resources that may be wasted can be distributed to other wirelesscommunication apparatuses in an environment where the communicationquality is good. Thereby, the capacity of each base station can beimproved. With respect to the voice call function (or the datacommunication function regarding the voice call service to which thehigh priority is set), it is important to enable an emergency call to betransmitted and received. For this reason, the voice call function isturned on as long as the user does not perform setting to turn off thevoice call function. With respect to data communication functionsregarding other call services to which the high priority is set, thedata communication functions can be turned on as long as the user doesnot perform setting to turn off the data communication functions.

As such, ON/OFF of the data communication function is appropriatelycontrolled according to the communication quality in the area where thewireless communication apparatus exists, so that the radio resourceswhich may be wasted can be decreased and the capacity can be increased.That is, wireless communication resources can be efficiently used.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the integrally configuredinformation processing apparatus (for example, the mail server 540 andthe server 620) has been described as the example. However, theembodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to an informationprocessing system that configures the individual units included in theinformation processing apparatus using a plurality of apparatuses. Forexample, an information processing system (for example, cloud computing)that exists on a network can be assumed.

The embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to a portablewireless communication apparatus other than a mobile phone and a smartphone or a fixed wireless communication apparatus (for example, awireless communication apparatus to collect data of a vending machine).The portable wireless communication apparatus is an electronic apparatus(for example, a game machine, a home appliance, a music reproducingapparatus, and a video processing apparatus) that includes the wirelesscommunication function. For example, the fixed wireless communicationapparatus can be set such that the data communication function is turnedon, only when the communication quality is good. Thereby, even when thefixed wireless communication apparatus exists at the cell edge, thewireless communication resources or the consumption power can beeffectively used.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the example of the case inwhich the message showing that the data communication function is turnedoff is displayed on the display unit 200 has been described. However,the message showing that the data communication function is turned offmay be output from a sound output unit (for example, a speaker) of thewireless communication apparatus. For example, a sound message showing“because the communication quality is bad, the data communicationfunction is turned off” can be output, whenever the data communicationfunction is turned off. In an electronic apparatus (for example, anexternal sound output apparatus and an external display apparatus) thatis connected to the wireless communication apparatus, the message may beoutput. In this case, the message is transmitted from the wirelesscommunication apparatus to the electronic apparatus and the message isoutput from the electronic apparatus.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

The processing sequences that are described in the embodiments describedabove may be handled as a method having a series of sequences or may behandled as a program for causing a computer to execute the series ofsequences and recording media storing the program. As the recordingmedia, a hard disk, a CD (Compact Disc), an MD (MiniDisc), and a DVD(Digital Versatile Disk) can be used. In addition, a memory card and aBlu-ray disc (registered trademark) can be used.

Additionally, the present technology may also be configured as below.

(1) An information processing apparatus including:

an acquiring unit that acquires communication quality of wirelesscommunication at a location where a wireless communication apparatusexists; and

a control unit that controls ON/OFF of another data communicationfunction other than a data communication function to which a highpriority is set, among data communication functions included by thewireless communication apparatus, based on the acquired communicationquality.

(2) The information processing apparatus according to (1),

wherein the data communication function to which the high priority isset is a voice call function or a data communication function regardinga voice call service to which the high priority is set, and

wherein when the acquired communication quality is low based on athreshold value, the control unit performs control to turn off the otherdata communication function in a state in which the data communicationfunction to which the high priority is set is turned on.

(3) The information processing apparatus according to (1) or (2),

wherein, when the acquired communication quality is high based on athreshold value, the control unit performs control to turn on the otherdata communication function, and when the acquired communication qualityis low based on the threshold value, the control unit performs controlto turn off the other data communication function.

(4) The information processing apparatus according to (3),

wherein, when a call using a voice call function is performed eventhough the acquired communication quality is low based on the thresholdvalue, the control unit performs control to turn on the other datacommunication function.

(5) The information processing apparatus according to (3) or (4),

wherein the control unit controls ON/OFF of the other data communicationfunction, based on a display unit included in the wireless communicationapparatus and the acquired communication quality.

(6) The information processing apparatus according to (5),

wherein, when the display unit is not in a display state even though theacquired communication quality is high based on a threshold value, thecontrol unit performs control to turn off the other data communicationfunction, and when the display unit is in the display state even thoughthe acquired communication quality is low based on the threshold value,the control unit performs control to turn on the other datacommunication function.

(7) The information processing apparatus according to any one of (1) to(6), further including:

a movement information acquiring unit that acquires movement informationregarding a movement of the wireless communication apparatus, whereinthe control unit controls ON/OFF of the other data communicationfunction, based on the acquired movement information and the acquiredcommunication quality.

(8) The information processing apparatus according to (7),

wherein, when the acquired communication quality is high based on athreshold value or when the acquired communication quality is low basedon the threshold value and the acquired movement information satisfies apredetermined condition, the control unit performs control to turn onthe other data communication function, and when the acquiredcommunication quality is low based on the threshold value and theacquired movement information does not satisfy the predeterminedcondition, the control unit performs control to turn off the other datacommunication function.

(9) The information processing apparatus according to (1),

wherein the data communication functions that are included by thewireless communication apparatus include a data communication functionregarding packet communication and a data communication functionregarding SMS communication, and wherein the data communication functionto which the high priority is set is the data communication functionregarding the SMS communication.

(10) The information processing apparatus according to (1),

wherein the data communication functions that are included by thewireless communication apparatus include data communication functionsregarding a plurality of protocols, and

wherein the other data communication function is a data communicationfunction regarding a specific protocol.

(11) The information processing apparatus according to (10),

wherein a threshold value to turn off the data communication functionsregarding the specific protocol is associated with the specificprotocol, and

wherein when the acquired communication quality is high based on thethreshold value associated with the specific protocol, the control unitperforms control to turn on the other data communication function, andwhen the acquired communication quality is low based on the thresholdvalue associated with the specific protocol, the control unit performscontrol to turn off the other data communication function.

(12) The information processing apparatus according to any one of (1) to(11), further including:

an application start detecting unit that detects a start of anapplication performing data communication,

wherein the control unit notifies a user of information showing that theother data communication function is turned off, at timing when thestart of the application is detected.

(13) The information processing apparatus according to (12),

wherein information showing whether the data communication regarding theapplication is automatically executed is associated with the applicationperforming the data communication, and wherein in a case in which thestart of the application performing the data communication is detected,when the acquired communication quality is high based on a thresholdvalue or when the acquired communication quality is low based on thethreshold value and information showing that the data communication isautomatically executed is associated with the application, the controlunit performs control to turn on the other data communication functionand when the acquired communication quality is low based on thethreshold value and information showing that the data communication isnot automatically executed is associated with the application, thecontrol unit performs control to turn off the other data communicationfunction.

(14) The information processing apparatus according to any one of (1) to(13), further including:

a storage unit that stores, as statistical information, a communicationamount when data communication using the data communication functions isperformed,

wherein the control unit controls ON/OFF of the other data communicationfunction, based on the statistical information and the acquiredcommunication quality.

(15) The information processing apparatus according to (14),

wherein, in the case in which execution of the data communication isinstructed, when the acquired communication quality is high based on thethreshold value or when the acquired communication quality is low basedon the threshold value and the statistical information regarding thedata communication satisfies a predetermined condition, the control unitperforms control to turn on the other data communication function andwhen the acquired communication quality is low based on the thresholdvalue and the statistical information regarding the data communicationdoes not satisfy the predetermined condition, the control unit performscontrol to turn off the other data communication function.

(16) The information processing apparatus according to (1),

wherein a protocol hierarchy of data communication regarding the datacommunication functions included by the wireless communication apparatusincludes at least a Control plane and a User plane,

wherein the other data communication function is a data communicationfunction regarding the data communication of the protocol hierarchyother than the Control plane, and

wherein the control unit controls ON/OFF of the data communication ofthe protocol hierarchy other than the Control plane, based on controldata received through the Control plane and the acquired communicationquality.

(17) The information processing apparatus according to any one of (1) to(16),

wherein, when the other data communication function is turned off, thecontrol unit notifies a user of information showing that the other datacommunication function is turned off.

(18) A communication system including:

an information processing apparatus that transmits a control signal,which shows that data communication using a User plane in datacommunication of a protocol hierarchy including at least a Control planeand the User plane is necessary, to a wireless communication apparatusthrough the Control plane; and

a wireless communication apparatus that includes an acquiring unit toacquire communication quality of wireless communication at a locationwhere the wireless communication apparatus exists and a control unit tocontrol ON/OFF of the data communication of a protocol hierarchy otherthan the Control plane, based on control data received through theControl plane and the acquired communication quality.

(19) An information processing method including:

acquiring communication quality of wireless communication at a locationwhere a wireless communication apparatus exists; and

controlling ON/OFF of another data communication function other than adata communication function to which a high priority is set, among datacommunication functions included by the wireless communicationapparatus, based on the acquired communication quality.

(20) A program for causing a computer to execute:

acquiring communication quality of wireless communication at a locationwhere a wireless communication apparatus exists; and

controlling ON/OFF of another data communication function other than adata communication function to which a high priority is set, among datacommunication functions included by the wireless communicationapparatus, based on the acquired communication quality.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wireless communication apparatus, comprising:at least one processor configured to: acquire communication qualityinformation, wherein the communication quality information is based on aReceived Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) of a signal from a basestation; calculate, based on the acquired communication qualityinformation, a congestion degree of the base station for wirelesscommunication at a location where the wireless communication apparatusexists, wherein the congestion degree of the base station is based on aratio of a minimum value of reference signal received quality (RSRQ) anda current value of RSRQ, the minimum value of RSRQ is a given value, thecurrent value of RSRQ is calculated using the RSSI, and the wirelesscommunication apparatus is connected to the base station; and control acommunication with the base station based on the congestion degree. 2.The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein theat least one processor is further configured to: acquire movementinformation corresponding to a movement of the wireless communicationapparatus; and control the communication with the base station based onthe acquired movement information.
 3. The wireless communicationapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication qualityinformation is based on the current value of RSRQ.
 4. The wirelesscommunication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the congestiondegree is calculated for an orthogonal frequency division multipleaccess (OFDMA), and radio resources in an OFDM include at least one of anumber of subcarriers, a number of resource blocks, or a number of bitstransmitted per frame.
 5. The wireless communication apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured tocontrol the communication with the base station based on a result of acomparison between the congestion degree and a threshold value relatedto the congestion degree.
 6. The wireless communication apparatusaccording to claim 5, wherein the at least one processor is furtherconfigured to disable the communication with the base station when thecongestion degree is more than the threshold value.
 7. The wirelesscommunication apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the thresholdvalue is based on areas where the wireless communication apparatusexists.
 8. The wireless communication apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: acquireinformation associated with Quality of Service (QoS) of the wirelesscommunication; and control the communication with the base station basedon the acquired information associated with the QoS.
 9. The wirelesscommunication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to: acquire information regarding aprotocol used for the communication with the base station; and controlthe communication with the base station based on the acquiredinformation regarding the protocol.
 10. A wireless communication methodexecuted in a wireless communication apparatus, comprising: measuring,by at least one processor, communication quality information, thecommunication quality information is based on a Received Signal StrengthIndicator (RSSI) of a signal from a base station; calculating, by the atleast one processor, a congestion degree of the base station forwireless communication at a location where the wireless communicationapparatus exists based on the measured communication qualityinformation, wherein the congestion degree of the base station is basedon a ratio of a minimum value of reference signal received quality(RSRQ) and a current value of RSRQ, the minimum value of RSRQ is a givenvalue, the current value of RSRQ is calculated using the RSSI, and thewireless communication apparatus is connected to the base station; andcontrolling, by the at least one processor, a communication with thebase station based on the congestion degree.
 11. The wirelesscommunication method according to claim 10, further comprising:acquiring, by the at least one processor, movement informationcorresponding to a movement of the wireless communication apparatus; andcontrolling the communication with the base station based on theacquired movement information.
 12. The wireless communication methodaccording to claim 10, wherein the communication quality information isbased on the current value of RSRQ.
 13. The wireless communicationmethod according to claim 10, wherein the congestion degree iscalculated for an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA),and radio resources in an OFDM include at least one of a number ofsubcarriers, a number of resource blocks, or a number of bitstransmitted per frame.
 14. The wireless communication method accordingto claim 10, further comprising controlling the communication with thebase station based on a result of a comparison between the congestiondegree and a threshold value relating to the congestion degree.
 15. Thewireless communication method according to claim 14, further comprisingdisabling the communication with the base station in a case in which thecongestion degree is more than the threshold value.
 16. The wirelesscommunication method according to claim 14, wherein the threshold valueis based on areas where the wireless communication apparatus exists.